The relation between serum homocysteine level and eye involvement in Behçet's disease.
BACKGROUND
Behçet's disease is a chronic, multisystemic disease of unknown etiology in which eye involvement is the most common cause of morbidity. In this study, we investigated the possible relation between serum homocysteine level and ocular involvement in patients with Behçet's disease.


METHODS
One hundred and fifty patients who fulfilled the criteria of the International Study Group for Behçet's disease (96 females and 54 males) were enrolled. All the patients were evaluated carefully by an experienced ophthalmologist for the diagnosis of ocular involvement. Serum homocysteine, vitamin B12, and folate levels were determined. The patients were categorized according to the presence or absence of uveitis. The data were statistically analyzed by using Student's t-test and P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.


RESULTS
Fifty- nine patients (39.3%) had eye involvement, which included anterior uveitis, vitritis, macular damage, optic atrophy, panuveitis, posterior uveitis, retinal vasculitis, and retinal hemorrhage. Serum levels of folate and vitamin B12 were comparable in patients with Behçet's disease. There was no significant correlation between serum homocysteine level in patients with and without eye involvement.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that homocysteine level does not have significant effect on eye involvement in patients with Behçet's disease.
Aflaki
Elham
E
Department of Rheumatology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences , Shiraz, Iran. aflakye@sums.ac.ir
Mehryar
Morsal
M
Nazarinia
Mohammad-Ali
MA
Habibagahi
Zahra
Z
Rajaee
Akbar
A
Ranjbar-Omrani
Gholamhossein
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000097:blood; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
D006710:Homocysteine; D005492:Folic Acid; D014805:Vitamin B 12