Are Male Patients with Behçet’s Disease Unlucky? : An Analysis of 506 Behçet Patients

Background Behçet's Disease (BD) is characterized by oral and genital ulcers, arthritis, skin manifestations, uveitis, gastrointestinal tract, and central nervous system involvement. Although it is known to be more severe in men, there are studies in the literature with conflicting results regarding gender and the distribution of clinical findings. This study aimed to examine the relationship between clinical findings and gender in BD patients and to compare our results with the literature. Methods 506 patients diagnosed with Behçet's disease were included in the study. Demographic data, laboratory, and clinical findings of the patients were obtained retrospectively from hospital records. The distribution of clinical findings according to gender was evaluated. Results A total of 280 males (55.3%) and 226 females (44.7%) were included in the study. There was no significant difference between male and female patients regarding age at diagnosis (p=0.662). Genital ulcer (47.6% vs 52.4%, p=0.011), superficial thrombophlebitis (20.9% vs 79.1%, p=0.002), uveitis (33.7% vs 66.3%, p=0.02), deep vein thrombosis (22.5% vs 77.5%, p=0.00) and pulmonary artery aneurysm (11.1% vs 88.9%, p=0.046) were more common in males. There was no significant difference between the sexes in other clinical findings, HLA B5, and pathergy positivity. Conclusion Gender impacts the clinical manifestations of BD and should be considered in patient follow-up. However, it is a heterogeneous disease, other factors may certainly affect the emergence of clinical findings.