ab17_3

Disease patterns of patients with Behçet’s disease demonstrated by factor analysis

I. Krause¹,², L. Leibovici², D. Guedj¹, Y. Molad¹,³, Y. Uziel⁴, A. Weinberger¹,³

¹Rheumatology Unit, ²Department of Medicine E, ³Department of Medicine B, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus; ⁴Department of Pediatrics, Sapir Medical Center; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.

ABSTRACT
Objective
To explore the main patterns of Behçet’s disease (BD) expression, applying factor analysis.

Methods
Sixty-eight BD patients were studied. The following disease manifestations were used for the factor analysis: genital ulcerations, typical skin lesions (erythema nodosum, folliculitis or papulo-pustular rash), uveitis, CNS involvement, joint disease, deep vein and superficial vein thrombosis, and gastrointestinal manifestations. The results were further analyzed according to sex, HLA typing, and childhood vs. adult-onset disease.

Results
Five factors were derived, which accounted for 69% of the variance of the matrix. Factor 1 represented the association between folliculitis and genital ulceration. Factor 2 represented the association between papulopustular rash and gastrointestinal symptoms. Factor 3 represented the inverse association between superficial vein thrombosis and erythema nodosum. Factor 4 represented the correlation between deep vein thrombosis and neuro-Behçet. Factor 5 represented joint disease.
No difference was found between males and females in relation to factors 1, 2 or 5, but factors 3 and 4 had higher scores in male patients (p = 0.1 and p = 0.07, respectively). Factor 3 was significantly higher in patients with HLA-B5, compared to HLA-B5-negative BD patients (p < 0.001). Factors 1 and 3 were higher in patients with adult onset of the disease (p = 0.07, and p = 0.003, respectively), while factor 2 was higher in patients with childhood-onset BD (p = 0.07).

Conclusions
The application of factor analysis revealed possible associations between distinct types of skin lesions, or venous thrombosis, and other disease manifestations of Behçet's syndrome, some of which were sex, age at onset, or HLA-related.

Key words:
Behçet’s disease, factor analysis, disease spectrum.

Please address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ilan Krause, M.D., Department of Medicine E, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Petah-Tiqva 49100, Israel.