title: Behçet's disease in Lebanon: clinical profile, severity and two-decade comparison.
abstract: The aim of this study is to describe the clinical features of Lebanese patients with Behçet's disease (BD) followed up at a tertiary care center in Lebanon. A retrospective review of medical records of 90 patients who fulfilled the International Study Group (ISG) criteria for diagnosis was performed. The clinical characteristics and severity score were compared with those reported from other populations of Arab and of Turkish origin using the same diagnostic criteria, and a comparison over two decades for the Lebanese population was made. The male-to-female ratio was 2.9:1, the mean age at onset, 25.4 years, and mean age at diagnosis, 29.2 years. One hundred percent of the patients had mouth ulceration; 72.2%, genital ulceration; 59.1%, arthritis; 55.7%, papulopustular skin lesion; 53.9%, ocular disease; 36.8%, vascular disease; 29.5%, erythema nodosum; and 23.0%, neurologic disease. The characteristics of our patient population are similar to that reported from other countries in the region. However, we found a higher prevalence of vascular and neurologic disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Internal Medicine Department, American University of Beirut-Medical Center, Box 11-0236, Bliss Street, Beirut, Lebanon. ta01@aub.edu.lb
authors.forename: Ayad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamdan
authors.forename: Wissam
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.forename: Imad
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Uthman
authors.forename: Abdel Fattah
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Masri
authors.forename: Fouad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nasr
authors.forename: Thurayya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arayssi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001083:Arabia / Q000208:ethnology; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology