Psychometric Evaluation of Patients with Behcet's Disease

Behcet's disease is a vasculitis with multi-organ involvement. Our knowledge of the psychological aspects of Behcet's disease is very limited. 40 women and 24 men who fulfilled the International Study Group (ISG) criteria of Behcet's disease were selected from Behcet's Disease Clinic of Nemazee Hospital Shiraz, South of Iran. Controls consisted of 65 healthy volunteers. Both patients and controls completed SCL-90R questionnaire. Scores of somatization, obsessive-compulsive behavior, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideations and psychoticism were compared between cases and controls. Patients with Behcet's disease had significantly (P=0.04) higher global severity index of SCL-90R in comparison to controls. The patient group also had significantly higher scores for aggression (P=0.03), anxiety (P=0.04) and somatization (p=0.00) than controls. It is concluded that SCL-90R is a useful tool for evaluation of the psychiatric status of patients with Behcet's disease.