The Prevalence of Behçet's Disease in a Thrombosis Clinic

Abstract

Background: the prevalence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in Behcet's disease (BD) is around 40%, though recognition of BD in a thrombosis clinic has been poorly addressed.

Objective: to evaluate the prevalence of signs and symptoms leading to the diagnosis of BD in a thrombosis clinic compared to patients attending a general haematology clinic and to healthy controls. Design: cross-sectional case-double control anonymous questionnaire survey. Participants: consecutive patients with spontaneous VTE (n=97) attending a thrombosis clinic, consecutive patients from a general haematology (GH) clinic (n=89) and controls (CTR).

Results: BD was diagnosed in 1.03% of VTE participants, in 2.2% of GH participants and in 1.2% of healthy CTR. Exhaustion was more common reported in participants from the VTE group (15.6%) than in those from the GH group (10.3%) and from the healthy CTR (3%) (p=0.06); the sum of signs and symptoms of BD clustered in the VTE group (89.5%) compared to the GH (72.4%) and the CTR (59.7%) (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: BD may be diagnosed in 1 every 100 patients with VTE attending a thrombosis clinic and in 2 every 100 patients attending a GH clinic: awareness must be raised not to under-diagnose or misdiagnose BD in these settings as management of VTE in BD deviates from the norm.

Keywords: Behçet’s disease; prevalence; thrombosis clinic.