JCR-JOURNAL OF CLINICAL RHEUMATOLOGY, vol.29, no.6, pp.285-290, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
BackgroundBehcet disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory systemic disease that affects skin mucosa, joints, eyes, and blood vessels. Behcet disease shows some clinical differences in terms of disease manifestations and prognosis among the Silk Road countries, as well as various ethnicities even in the same country. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical features and disease course of BD using cluster analysis in Van province, Eastern Turkey.MethodsThis study was carried out in a tertiary referral center in Van province, by reviewing medical records. Seven disease manifestations were included to the cluster analysis as follows: mucocutaneous findings (oral ulcer, genital ulcer, erythema nodosum-like lesions, pseudofolliculitis), uveitis, superficial thrombophlebitis, musculoskeletal involvement, gastrointestinal system involvement, vascular involvement, and parenchymal central nervous system involvement.ResultsWe identified 467 patients. After the exclusion of 6 patients who had missing data and 17 patients who did not live in Van, 444 patients (59.2% male) included into the study. Meeting the International Study Group and the International Criteria for Behcet Disease criteria were 91.6% and 96%, respectively, and 91.3% (n = 379/415) of these patients met both criteria. Four clusters were identified in the analyses: 132 patients (31.2%) in vascular (C1), 66 patients (15.6%) in ocular (C2), 60 patients (14.2%) in musculoskeletal (C3), and 165 patients (39%) in mucocutaneous (C4) clusters. Male gender (p = 0.002; odds ratio [OR], 6.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2-21.4), superficial thrombophlebitis (p = 0.001; OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.9-11.4), and uveitis (p = 0.01; OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.3-9.9) were associated with vascular involvement in multivariate analysis.ConclusionsIn our study, 4 clusters were detected in patients with BD from Van province. The prevalence of severe manifestations of BD may be related to genetic or environmental factors, such as differences in ethnicity and/or geographical differences. Despite the higher proportion of patients with a more severe disease, a favorable outcome was observed in our cohort.