Faraway from the Silk Route: demographic and clinical features of Behçet’s disease in 106 Brazilian patients

Abstract

To describe clinical and epidemiological data of Behçet's disease (BD) in Brazil, we retrospectively reviewed records of all patients seen between 2006 and 2007 at the BD outpatient clinic of University of Sao Paulo. One hundred and six patients fulfilled the International Study Group for Behçet's Disease diagnostic criteria and they were included in this study. There was a female/male ratio of 2.2:1 and mean age at diagnosis was 31.9 +/- 9.2 years. In order of frequency, oral (100%) and genital ulcerations (92.5%), pseudofolliculitis (59.4%), erythema nodosum (49.1%), ocular lesions (47.2%), and musculoskeletal complaints (35.8%) were the most common manifestations. Blindness and major vessel involvement (18.2% vs. 5.5%, p = 0.038 and 27.3% vs. 9.6%, p = 0.019) were more frequent among male than female patients. We concluded that in Brazil, a South American country faraway from the Silk Route, BD follows the same pattern exhibited on its usual endemic area.

Behçet’s disease in Brazilian patients: demographic and clinical features

“…Vascular involvement was found in approximately 14% of the patients, being more common in males. Similar results were found in the city of São Paulo [8].…”

“…Similar findings were also reported by Zouboulis et al [7], Gurler et al [11], and de Souza-Ramalho et al [12]. Neves et al [8], in another study performed in Brazil, in the southeast region, also showed the prevalence of female patients (sex ratio F/M: 2.2/1), but in a higher proportion than that of this study. A significant prevalence of female patients is found in the USA [13], Australia and Korea [14].…”

“…Clinical experience suggests that the disease is more severe, and the risk of losing vision is higher in men than in women [26]. The occurence of ocular involvement in this case series was higher than that found by Neves et al [8] in Brazil and similar to that found by Assad-Khalil et al [19] and Zouboulis et al [25]. In Campinas, the most common ocular manifestations were panuveitis (92.85%) and retinal vasculitis (57.14%).…”

“…The occurence of mucocutaneous findings in this series was similar to that described in endemic areas ( Table 3). As in this series in Campinas, Neves et al [8] and Tursen et al [15] also found that genital ulcers and erythema nodosum were more common in women.…”

“…In Brazil, population-based studies for BD incidence, prevalence, and survival have not yet been performed. There are two reports concerning the demographic and clinical particularities of BD at research centers in Brazil [8,9]. The objective of the study was to analyze demographic and clinical features in patients diagnosed with BD at a university referral hospital in the city of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil.…”