Frequency and pattern of cognitive dysfunction in Neuro-Behcet's disease: a retrospective study

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency and pattern of cognitive impairment in Neuro-Behcet patients with parenchymal involvement. Materials and Methods: Forty patients who were followed up from Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Department of Neurology, and diagnosed with Neurobehcet's disease according to Cerrahpasa diagnostic criteria were included in the study. The neurocognitive functions of the subjects were evaluated with Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests (BRB-N) including the selective recall test, PASAT, spatial recall test, symbol number modalities test, and word fluency tests. The results obtained were compared with the healthy group previously used to create normative data. Results: The mean age of the disease in the patient group was 39.48 +/- 10.66 and they were diagnosed with Neuro-Behcet disease approximately 3.3 years after the diagnosis of Behcet disease. There was male dominance. All neuropsychological test results of the patient group were impaired compared to the healthy ones. Deterioration in maintaining attention in 60%, impairment in visual memory in 55%, impairment in executive functions in 45%, and impairment in verbal memory in 23.5% of patients were found. Conclusion: Cognitive impairment was detected in one of every two patients. The observed effects were in attention, visual memory, and executive functions in order of frequency. It is recommended that this high prevalence should be considered in the clinical follow-up of patients with Neuro-Behcet disease.