Demographic and clinical properties of juvenile-onset Behçet's disease: A controlled multicenter study.
BACKGROUND
Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic inflammatory disorder of unknown origin. The disease usually occurs between the second and the fourth decades, whereas it is uncommon in children.


OBJECTIVE
In this multicenter study, we aimed to describe the demographic and clinical features along with severity in juvenile- versus adult-onset BD.


METHODS
Patients with initial symptoms at age 16 years or younger were considered as having juvenile-onset BD. In all, 83 patients with juvenile-onset BD (38 male and 45 female; mean age 19.6 +/- 7.6 years) and 536 with adult-onset (>16 years) BD (293 male and 243 female; mean age 39.2 +/- 10.1 years) who fulfilled the classification criteria of the International Study Group for BD were involved in the study.


RESULTS
Familial cases were more frequent in juvenile-onset compared with adult-onset BD (19% vs 10.3%; P = .017). The mean age of disease onset was 12.29 +/- 3.54 years in juvenile-onset BD and 31.66 +/- 8.71 years in adult-onset BD. Mucocutaneous lesions and articular symptoms were the most commonly observed manifestations in both groups. The frequency of disease manifestations was not different between juvenile- and adult-onset BD, except neurologic and gastrointestinal involvement, which were higher in juvenile-onset BD than adult-onset BD (P = .027 and P = .024, respectively). Oral ulcer was the most common onset manifestation of both juvenile-onset (86.74%) and adult-onset (89.55%) BD. The frequencies of onset manifestations of BD were similar, except genital ulcer, which was higher in adult-onset BD (P = .025).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study consisted of patients with BD mainly applying to dermatology and venerology departments. Therefore, it can be speculated that this study includes rather a milder spectrum of the disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the clinical spectrum of juvenile-onset BD seems to be similar to adult-onset BD, the frequency of severe organ involvement was higher. Because of the higher prevalence of familial cases in juvenile-onset BD, it can be speculated that genetic factors may favor early expression of the disease with severe organ involvement.
Department of Dermatology and Venereology at Inonu University School of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey. yeldakarincaoglu@hotmail.com
Yelda
Y
Karincaoglu
Murat
M
Borlu
Semra Cikman
SC
Toker
Ayse
A
Akman
Meltem
M
Onder
Suhan
S
Gunasti
Aysegul
A
Usta
Basak
B
Kandi
Cicek
C
Durusoy
Muammer
M
Seyhan
Serap
S
Utas
Hayriye
H
Saricaoglu
Muge Guler
MG
Ozden
Soner
S
Uzun
Umit
U
Tursen
Demet
D
Cicek
Levent
L
Donmez
Erkan
E
Alpsoy
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology