Behcet's disease: The clinical and demographic characteristics of 182 patients

Background and Design: Behcet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disorder that is an important cause of morbidity worldwide. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical and demographic characteristics of Turkish patients diagnosed with BD. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the hospital records of patients with BD who attended the Dermatoveneorology Department at the GATA Haydarpasa Teaching and Research Hospital between 2001 and 2012. One hundred eighty-two male patients who met the diagnostic criteria of the International Study Group for BD were included in the study. The clinical and demographic characteristics, including symptoms and age at onset, systemic symptoms, duration of the disease and initial signs were recorded. Results: The ages of the 182 male patients included in the study varied from 20 to 53. The mean age at disease onset was 20.59 +/- 4.55 years. The leading clinical features were aphthous ulcers (100%) followed by genital ulcers (86.8%) and papulopustular lesions (80.3%). The pathergy test was positive in 57.3% of the patients. Ocular involvement was present in 527%, vascular involvement in 22.5%, and neurological manifestations was found in 7.1% of the patients. Joint involvement was reported in 18.1% of the subjects. Only 0.5% had genitourinary involvement. There was no relationship of BD with the age at onset and disease duration. Conclusion: We assume that the present study will contribute to the data on demographic and clinical characteristics of especially male BD patients in Turkey.