THE EFFECTS OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL FINDINGS IN BEHCET'S DISEASE ON THE COURSE AND PROGNOSIS OF THE DISEASE

Aim: Behcet's Disease (BD) is s a complex disease which occurs as a result of the involvement of different systems. In this study, we aim to determine the importance of clinical findings and demographic data in its occurence and in understanding the prognostic importance of BD, and to establish the influencing factors of these findings. Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective statistical analysis on the clinical and demographic data assessed by examining the patient charts of 703 patients with BD who were admitted to the Behcet outpatient clinic in Erciyes University Department of Dermatology between 1998-2010. Results: Seven hundred and three patients were included in this study, of which 297 (42.2%) were male, and 406 (57.8%) were female. The mean age at diagnosis of the disease was 30.1 +/- 19.1 years. Mucocutaneous findings were the most frequent and first seen findings of the disease. The most frequent finding after mucocutaneous ones was ocular involvement. It was observed that vascular involvement was more common in male patients compared to female ones. In contrast, genital ulcer, erythema nodosum and arthralgia were seen more in female patients than in males. Conclusion: There is not a specific laboratory, monitoring or histopathologic examining method for the diagnosis and assessment of the prognosis of the disease. Consequently, it seems that the age, gender, genotype and other existing clinical findings of the patient give a clue to the prognosis of the disease.