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Clinical features of Behcet’s disease in Egypt

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Abstract

Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic relapsing multisystem disease of unknown etiology. Ethnic origin is one of the factors that may modulate the prevalence and the expression of BD. To study the clinical characteristics of Egyptian patients with BD, and compare the pattern of the disease in Egyptians with studies from other countries. Sixty-three patients with BD were studied over a 4-year period. A rheumatologist, dermatologist, neurologist and other specialists as indicated assessed the patients clinically. Laboratory and radiological examinations were done to confirm the diagnosis to rule out any condition that may mimic BD. Sixty-one patients were men, two were women, the mean age of the patients was: 32.8 ± 8.3 years, age of onset of the disease varied between 17 and 37.4 years. The initial presenting manifestation was oral ulcers in 39.7% of patients, followed by orogenital ulcers in 23.8%, followed by deep venous thrombosis in 7.9% Throughout the study period, the commonest manifestation was oral ulcers (100%), followed by genital ulcers (96.8%), vascular lesions (57.1%), cutaneous (55.5%), ocular (47.6%), joint (36.5%), neurological (34.9%), gastrointestinal (19%) and cardiac (6.3%). BD in Egyptians shows higher male-to-female ratio and higher incidence of vascular and neurological lesions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Manal Mohamed El Menyawi

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    Hala Mohamed Raslan

  3. M4-129 Medical School, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2411 Holmes Street, Kansas City, MO, 64108-2792, USA

    Amr Edrees

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  1. Manal Mohamed El Menyawi
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Correspondence to Amr Edrees.

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El Menyawi, M.M., Raslan, H.M. & Edrees, A. Clinical features of Behcet’s disease in Egypt. Rheumatol Int 29, 641–646 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-008-0741-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-008-0741-2

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