Arthropathy, quality of life, depression, and anxiety in Behcet's disease: relationship between arthritis and these factors

We aimed to determine arthritis frequency, quality of life (QoL), anxiety, and depression levels in Behcet's disease (BD) and thereby the effect of joint involvement on QoL, anxiety, and depression. Sixty-three patients diagnosed with BD according to the International Study Group Diagnostic Criteria and 45 healthy subjects as control were included in the study. All patients were evaluated in terms of clinical findings, the number and site of the joints involved, sacroiliac joint involvement, pain intensity, QoL, anxiety, and depression scale. The instruments used were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) for depression, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) for anxiety, and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) for health status and QoL. Joint involvement was seen in 41.3% of the patients. The most characteristic form was asymmetric oligoarthritis, which was seen in 65.3% of the patients. The joints most commonly involved were found to be in the wrist (53.8%) and knee (50%). Sacroiliitis was found at a rate of 38.1%. In BD patients without arthritis, rates of men (p=0.004) and genital ulcer (p=0.001) were higher, and rates of erythema nodosum (p=0.001) and human leukocyte antigen B5 positivity (p=0.023) were less than those of BD patients with arthritis. Pain intensity (p=0.000), NHP (p=0.004), and HAQ (p=0.003) scores were significantly higher in BD patients with arthritis than those without arthritis. Pain intensity, NHP, BDI, and STAI-T scores were significantly higher in BD patients without arthritis than in healthy controls, while pain intensity, NHP, HAQ, BDI, and STAI-T scores were significantly higher in BD patients with arthritis than in healthy controls (p=0.000). In conclusion, our study establishes that arthropathy is one of the common manifestations of BD. Arthritis in BD affects considerably patients' pain levels and QoL. A multistep approach is required for these patients. We are of the opinion that this approach may also improve the QoL of these patients and prevent the activation of the disease.