Executive dysfunctions and depression in Behçet’s disease without explicit neurological involvement

Abstract

This study aims to assess the executive functions and depression status in patients with Behçet's disease without explicit neurological involvement and to evaluate cognitive functions in this group of patients independent of accompanying depression. In the present study, 30 patients with Behçet's disease in the non-active phase of their illness and 30 healthy volunteers were included. In the evaluation of depression levels, Beck Depression Inventory was employed. The executive functions of the patients were evaluated by Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Stroop Test (ST). Beck Depression Inventory scores measured in the Behçet's disease group, in which no clinically serious depression was observed, were higher than the control group. Then, it was observed that the scores of neuropsychological tests of the Behçet's disease group were found to be significantly lower, especially in WCST, while significant relations were revealed between Beck Depression Inventory scores and WCST, ST scores. The authors' findings suggest that there may be factors other than depression causing executive impairment in patients with Behçet's disease without explicit neurological symptoms. Executive dysfunctions may occur in association with mild depressive states due to chronic disease stress or silent and/or future neurological involvement of Behçet's disease, especially in the frontal lobes.

Cognitive Functioning in Behçet's Disease

“…However, mild difficulties were also recorded in neuropsychological tests of memory and executive functions. These findings are consistent with previous reports 22,30 …”

“…These findings are consistent with previous reports. 22,30 In Neuro-BD, parenchymal involvement was found to be associated with poorer performance on cognitive measures. It is known that the parenchymal form of Behçet's disease may have a relapsing-remitting course with incomplete remissions or a progressive course, 3,4 whereas the nonparenchymal neurological involvement generally has a more favorable course with a single attack or relapses with complete remissions.…”

Outcome Measures Used in Clinical Trials for Behçet Syndrome: A Systematic Review

“…Among these, only the oral health-related QOL was specifically validated for BS 128 . The most frequently used psychological indexes were the Beck Depression Index 17,60,141,208,230,232,235,236,238,239,240 and Beck Anxiety Scale 230,238,239,241 .…”

Neurological and psychiatric disorders in Behҫet’s disease

“…Столь большая разница в частоте психических расстройств при ББ, по данным разных авто-ров, связана, вероятно, с культуральными особенностями выборок пациентов и различием инструментов психоме-трической оценки, используемой авторами. В большин-стве работ любые психические нарушения, включая КН, связываются с ББ, хотя существует и другая точка зрения, предполагающая влияние факторов, не связанных с ос-новным заболеванием, на их возникновение [30][31][32]. По-казано, что легкие КН при ББ в большей степени ассоци-ируются с низким образовательным уровнем пациентов, злоупотреблением алкоголем и психоактивными веще-ствами, занятием травмоопасными видами спорта (борь-ба, бокс).…”