s34_ab11

Prevalence of Behçet's disease in rural western Turkey: A preliminary report

N. Cakir¹, E. Dervis⁴, O. Benian², O.N. Pamuk¹, N. Sonmezates³, R. Rahimoglu³, S. Tuna³, T. Cetin³, Y. Sarikaya³

1Department of Rheumatology and 2Department of Ophtalmology, 3Faculty of Medicine of The University of Trakya, Edirne; 4Haseki State Hospital, Department of Dermatology, Istanbul, Turkey.

ABSTRACT
Objectives
To study the prevalence of Behçet's disease (BD) in a rural area of Western Turkey.

Methods
This study was conducted in seven villages in the rural Havsa region which has a total population of 5727. The physicians and medical students visited every household and distributed a questionnaire on the symptoms of rheumatic disorders. One of the questions was whether they had ever suffered from mouth ulcers. If the response was affirmative the proband was examined by a rheumatologist and a dermatologist for other symptoms. The individuals with true aphthous ulcerations had pathergy tests and were invited to the hospital for ophtalmic examinations.

Results
Of the 5203 individuals who participated in this survey, 4861 were 10 years or older. 124 out of 190 individuals who responded positively to the question regarding the presence of mouth ulcers had true aphthous ulcerations. 115/124 underwent a pathergy test and 4 showed positive reactions without any other stigmata of BD, except for folliculitis in one. Among the individuals with a negative pathergy test, 2 had acneiform skin lesions and 1 a genital ulcer. No individual exhibited any ocular symptoms or findings characteristic for BD. Only 1 person with aphthous ulceration, folliculitis and a positive pathergy test was considered to have BD.

Conclusion
In this survey, the prevalence of BD was found to be 2: 10,000 (95% confidence interval 0 to 4.3: 10,000). This figure is lower than what has been reported in four previous studies from different regions in Turkey. This finding might be due to ethnic distribution and geographical differences.

Key words
Behçet's disease, prevalence, aphtous ulceration.

This study was supported by Research Foundation of The Trakya University
Please address correspondence to: Necati Çakir, Okul sokak No:19/5 Erzurum Sitesi, Altunizade Uskudar, 81190 Istanbul, Turkey.
E-mail:necaticakir@hotmail.com