title: Uveitis in Behçet disease: an analysis of 880 patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to describe the demographic and clinical features, ocular manifestations, complications, visual prognosis, and treatment in a large population of Turkish patients with Behçet uveitis. We also aimed to compare visual prognosis between male and female sex and between patients who presented before and after 1990.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study of 880 consecutive patients (1,567 eyes) with Behçet uveitis seen at the Uveitis Service, Department of Ophthalmology, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, from 1980 to 1998. All patients met the classification criteria of the International Study Group for Behçet's Disease. Information on the patient's sex, age at onset of uveitis, ocular features, ocular complications, visual acuity, and systemic treatment was collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five hundred ninety-nine patients (68%) were male and 281 (32%) were female. The mean age at onset of uveitis was 28.5 years in male and 30 years in female patients. Ocular involvement was bilateral in 78.1% and unilateral in 21.9% of the patients. Panuveitis was the most common form in both sexes. Fundus lesions as well as sight-threatening complications were more common in males. At the beginning of the follow-up, potential visual acuity was 0.1 or less in 30.9% of eyes in males and 24.2% of eyes in females. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis estimated the risks of losing useful vision (>0.1) at 5 and 10 years for males and females as 21% vs 10% and 30% vs 17%, respectively. Male patients who presented in the 1990s had a significantly lower risk of losing vision compared with male patients who presented in the 1980s.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Behçet uveitis starts frequently around the end of the third decade and has a male predominance. The disease is more severe and the risk of losing useful vision is higher in males than in females. However, this risk has been significantly reduced in the 1990s.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, 34390 Capa Istanbul, Turkey. tutkun@tnn.net
authors.forename: Ilknur
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tugal-Tutkun
authors.forename: Sumru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Onal
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Altan-Yaycioglu
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huseyin Altunbas
authors.forename: Meri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Urgancioglu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013508:Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014605:Uveitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D014792:Visual Acuity
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents