Serum ghrelin levels in patients with Behcet’s disease

Abstract

IntroductionBehcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic, relapsing, systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology.AimTo measure serum ghrelin levels in BD patients and healthy controls and to investigate its association with metabolic syndrome (MetS).Material and methodsThirty BD patients and 30 healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. Ghrelin levels were measured in blood samples using ELISA.ResultsThe mean serum ghrelin level in BD patients (28.57 ±14.04) was significantly lower compared to healthy controls (40.72 ±23.21) (p = 0.01). The mean serum ghrelin level in BD patients who had MetS (24.18 ±12.73) was lower compared to BD patients who did not have MetS (30.77 ±14.45), but this difference was not significant (p > 0.05).ConclusionsGhrelin levels were lower in BD patients compared to healthy controls. There was no association between reduced ghrelin levels and MetS; however, there was a negative correlation between ghrelin levels and disease activity.

Association of Behçet’s disease with the risk of metabolic syndrome and its components: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The prevalence of MetS in patients with BD was reported in eight studies [14,[22][23][24][25][26][27]. Among the included studies, MetS was reported in 25.52% of patients with BD (366/1434), whereas only 16.50% were found to be affected by MetS in the non-BD group (66/400).…”

Do nonobese patients with Behçet’s disease have insulin resistance?

“…There are conflicting results in terms of lipid profile in BD 32‐39 . Since lipid profile is closely related with insulin resistance, we evaluated it in our study and found it to be significantly lower in active BD patients.…”

“…When studies investigating IR in patients with BD are examined, they have certain limitations such as the small number of patients or the sample including obese patients 8,9,31‐39 . A subgroup analysis according to BMI was undertaken in only one study 35 …”

“…There are conflicting results in terms of lipid profile in BD. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] Since lipid profile is closely related with insulin resistance, we evaluated it in our study and found it to be significantly lower in active BD patients. The literature contains studies supporting our findings; however, there are limited studies on low lipid levels in BD.…”

“…When studies investigating IR in patients with BD are examined, they have certain limitations such as the small number of patients or the sample including obese patients. 8,9,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] A subgroup analysis according to BMI was undertaken in only one study. 35 The current study involved the evaluation of fasting plasma glucose, fasting plasma insulin, impaired glucose tolerance, and IR according to both HOMA-IR and QUICKI, and our results revealed that the BD patients had predisposition to IR and diabetes.…”