Melikoğlu Meltem Alkan, Melikoğlu Mehmet
Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Erzurum, Turkey.
Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Dermatology, Erzurum, Turkey.
Eurasian J Med. 2008 Aug;40(2):68-71.
Behcet's disease (BD) is a multi-systemic vasculitis characterized by a relapsing and remitting, rather than a persisting, disease course. It is thought that BD activity decreases as the age of the afflicted individual increases. Furthermore, disease severity is reported to be greater in individuals that first present with the disease at a young age. This study investigates the association between disease activity scores and both the current ages of BD patients and patient age at disease onset.
Fifty patients with BD participated in this study. The gender, age, and age at disease onset of each patient was recorded. A BD Current Activity Form (BDCAF) was used to assign a clinical disease activity score for all enrolled patients. The participants were divided into subgroups according to 1) their current ages and 2) their ages at the onset of BD disease. In addition to BDCAF scores, erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were compared across groups. Statistical analyses were performed using one-way ANOVA.
The mean patient age and the mean patient age at the time of disease onset were 34.68±9.71 and 26.10±7.07 years, respectively. Patients that were younger than 30 years of age exhibited significantly higher rates of oral ulceration and arthralgia, and had higher total BDCAF scores than patients that were older than 40 years of age (p=0.038, p=0.020, and p=0.026, respectively). Patients who developed BD before their twentieth year showed significantly higher total disease activity scores than patients in the oldest age at disease onset group (p < 0.05). No significant difference was observed in ESR and CRP levels between groups.
Our results demonstrate that younger BD patients and patients that first present with disease symptoms at a younger age have higher disease activity scores. Our results reinforce the importance of considering the age at disease onset when clinically treating individuals with BD.
白塞病（BD）是一种多系统血管炎，其病程特点为复发缓解型，而非持续型。一般认为，随着患病个体年龄增长，白塞病的活动度会降低。此外，据报道，发病时年龄较小的个体疾病严重程度更高。本研究旨在调查疾病活动评分与白塞病患者当前年龄及发病年龄之间的关联。
50例白塞病患者参与了本研究。记录了每位患者的性别、年龄及发病年龄。使用白塞病当前活动表（BDCAF）为所有入组患者评定临床疾病活动评分。参与者根据1）当前年龄和2）白塞病发病年龄被分为亚组。除BDCAF评分外，还比较了各组的红细胞沉降率（ESR）和C反应蛋白（CRP）水平。采用单因素方差分析进行统计分析。
患者的平均年龄及发病时的平均年龄分别为34.68±9.71岁和26.10±7.07岁。年龄小于30岁的患者口腔溃疡和关节痛发生率显著更高，且总BDCAF评分高于年龄大于40岁的患者（分别为p = 0.038、p = 0.020和p = 0.026）。20岁前发病的患者总疾病活动评分显著高于发病年龄最大组的患者（p < 0.05）。各组间ESR和CRP水平未观察到显著差异。
我们的结果表明，较年轻的白塞病患者以及发病时年龄较小的患者疾病活动评分更高。我们的结果强化了临床治疗白塞病患者时考虑发病年龄的重要性。
