title: The relation between serum homocysteine level and eye involvement in Behçet's disease.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences , Shiraz, Iran. aflakye@sums.ac.ir
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aflaki
authors.forename: Morsal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehryar
authors.forename: Mohammad-Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nazarinia
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Habibagahi
authors.forename: Akbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rajaee
authors.forename: Gholamhossein
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ranjbar-Omrani
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D006710:Homocysteine; D005492:Folic Acid; D014805:Vitamin B 12