Clinical features of Behçet's disease in patients in the Sultanate of Oman; the significance of antiphospholipid antibodies?

The prevalence of symptoms in 34 Omani patients with Behcet's disease (BD) was: recurrent oral ulceration 100%, arthritis/arthralgia and genital ulceration 74% each, folliculitis 64%, neurological lesions 62%, retinal vasculitis 30%, iritis and hypopyon 26%, gastrointestinal lesions 12%, venous thrombosis and cardiovascular lesions 9% each, and pleuropulmonary lesions and epididymitis 6% each. Antiphospholipid (APL) antibodies (both anticardiolipin [ACAs] and anti-beta2 glycoprotein I [abeta2GPIs]) were present in 11/34 (32%) of the BD patients and in 54/73 (74%) of Omani patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (chi2 = 21.2, P<0.001). In patients possessing APL antibodies, there was no significant difference in mean antibody levels between BD and SLE patients. IgM isotype antibodies, in the absence of IgG, were more prevalent in BD (5/11) than in SLE (10/54) patients (chi2 =3.8, P = 0.05). The frequency of organ involvement was similar in patients with and without APL antibodies (chi2 = 1.226, P > 0.05). This study fails to demonstrate a pathognomonic role for APL antibodies in BD.