Atherosclerosis in Behçet's Syndrome

• Published in: Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Seyahi, Emire, MD, Ugurlu, Serdal, MD, Cumali, Rana, MD, Balci, Huriye, PhD, Ozdemir, Oktay, MD, Melikoglu, Melike, MD, Hatemi, Gulen, MD, Fresko, Izzet, MD, Hamuryudan, Vedat, MD, Yurdakul, Sebahattin, MD, Yazici, Hasan, MD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA Elsevier Inc 01-08-2008; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; atherosclerosis; Atherosclerosis (general aspects, experimental research); Atherosclerosis - complications; atherosclerotic plaques; B-mode ultrasonography; Behcet Syndrome - complications; Behçet's syndrome; Biological and medical sciences; Blood and lymphatic vessels; Cardiology. Vascular system; carotid artery; Carotid Artery Diseases - diagnosis; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Female; Femoral Artery; Humans; intima-media thickness; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Rheumatology; Sarcoidosis. Granulomatous diseases of unproved etiology. Connective tissue diseases. Elastic tissue diseases. Vasculitis; Myocardial infarction; Group II; atherosclerotic plaques; ISG Criteria; SLE; TNF; MTX; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; MI; Methotrexate; high sensitivity C reactive protein; Ankylosing spondylitis; Behçet's syndrome; atherosclerosis; Women; Corticosteroids; International study group criteria; femoral artery; Sulphasalazine; IQR; Low density lipoprotein; Carotid artery intima-media thickness; Behçet's syndrome patients with mucocutaneous and /or joint involvement; RA; Healthy controls; IMT; AS; Tumor necrosis factor; Rheumatoid arthritis; Interquartile range; Men; hsCRP; Femoral artery intima-media thickness; F; F-IMT; High density lipoprotein; M; SAZ; Confidence intervals; BS; HDL; SD; LDL; Ultrasonography; Standard deviation; C-IMT; ESR; CI; DMARD; USG; ACR; CS; B-mode ultrasonography; intima-media thickness; Disease modifying drug anti-rheumatic drugs; American college of rheumatology; Behçet's syndrome patients with major organ involvement; HC; carotid artery; Group I; Sonography; Skin disease; Femoral artery; Stomatology; Rheumatology; Cardiovascular disease; Behçet syndrome; Genital diseases; Vascular disease; Eye disease; Vasculitis; Atherosclerotic plaque; Carotid; Systemic disease; Atherosclerosis; Echography; Vascular wall
• ISSN: 0049-0172; 1532-866X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2007.09.009

Objectives We had the impression and preliminary evidence that atherosclerosis was not much increased in Behçet's syndrome (BS). Thus, we evaluated the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in a sizeable group of patients with BS both with major organ involvement and mucocutaneous disease along with diseased and healthy controls. Methods We studied 239 (162 M/ 77 F; mean age: 40.7 ± 7.0) patients with BS. Seventy-two (32 M/ 40 F) had only mucocutaneous and/or joint disease and 167 (130 M/ 37 F) had major organ involvement. Also 100 (24 M/ 76 F; mean age: 44.7 ± 7.1) patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 74 (58 M/ 16 F; mean age: 39.4 ± 7.0) patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and 156 (83 M/ 73 F; mean age: 39.2 ± 6.6) healthy controls (HC) were studied as the control groups. We used B-mode USG to assess the frequency of plaques and intima-media thickness (IMT) in the carotid and femoral arteries. Traditional atherosclerotic risk factors were also evaluated. Men and women were analyzed separately. Results The frequency of plaques and the mean IMT in the carotid and femoral arteries were similar between patients with BS, AS and HC and also between the 2 subgroups of BS, among both men and women. Only men with RA were found to have significantly increased frequency of carotid artery plaques after adjustment for atherosclerotic risk factors. Conclusion Increased atherosclerosis is not a prominent feature of BS, even among those patients with major organ involvement.