title: High prevalence of Behçet's disease in southern Italy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of Behçet's disease (BD) in the city of Potenza, the regional capital of Basilicata (or Lucania) Region, in southern Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with BD living in Potenza for at least 12 months prior to diagnosis were identified through the following sources: general practitioners, community-based specialists, San Carlo Hospital specialists, the Basilicata centralised index and the Basilicata database for rare diseases. All identified patients were contacted by phone and were recalled to our outpatient clinic for re-evaluation. Patients were classified as having complete BD if they met the International Study Group (ISG) criteria for BD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By surveying a population of 69.060 subjects, 13 patients with a diagnosis of BD were identified. All were white and Italian by descendent. Eleven out of these satisfied the ISG criteria and allowed us to obtain a prevalence rate of 15.9 per 100.000 (95%CI 8.9-28.5), which is the highest ever found value in Europe.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This cross-sectional population-based study suggests that BD is more frequent in the southern part than in the northern part of Italy and confirms that the prevalence of the disease increases in a north-to-south manner within the European continent.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Department of Lucania, San Carlo Hospital of Potenza and Madonna delle Grazie Hospital of Matera, Italy. ignazioolivieri@tiscalinet.it.
authors.forename: Ignazio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Olivieri
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leccese
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Padula
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nigro
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palazzi
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gilio
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: D'Angelo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014504:Urban Health; D055815:Young Adult