The spectrum of mucocutaneous manifestations in Adamantiades‐Behçet’s disease in Greece

BACKGROUND: This is the largest specific demographic and clinical study performed until now in Greece. OBJECTIVES: To analyse the spectrum of mucocutaneous manifestations in 202 patients with Adamantiades-Behçet's disease (ABD) in Greece. METHODS: Any mucocutaneous symptom at disease onset and during the follow-up was recorded in a particular questionnaire that included 58 items. All patients fulfilled the International Study Group Criteria for BD. RESULTS: Consecutive patients (130 men and 72 women) were included in this study. Their mean age was 42.03 +/- 12.41 and 44.96 +/- 11.99 years for male and female patients respectively. Pathergy test was positive in 38%, whereas HLA-B5 (51) positivity was evident in 76% of patients. Onset signs: oral aphthous ulcers were found in 64.36%, genital ulcers in 6.93%, skin lesions in 8.91%, erythema nodosum in 7.42% and pseudofolliculitis in 1.5%. One patient had leg ulcers. During the follow-up, oral aphthous ulcers were found in 100%, genital ulcers in 65.4% and in 51.4%, erythema nodosum in 42.9% and in 78.1%, whereas pseudofolliculitis in 57.1% and in 21.9% in men and women respectively. Significant differences pointing to a different course of mucocutaneous disease were found between men and women. CONCLUSIONS: The nature and frequency of mucocutaneous manifestations at presentation are important for the diagnosis of ABD, whereas significant differences were found between genders in this Greek patient cohort. Significant differences were also observed when our results were compared with those of four other series, probably explained by genetic and environmental factors.