Clinical manifestations of Behçet's disease depending on sex and age: results from Japanese nationwide registration

Abstract

Objective: This report aimed to scrutinize the prevalence of Behçet's disease (BD)-related clinical manifestations based on age- and sex-specific subgroups using a Japanese nationwide registration database.

Methods: The database of newly registered BD was obtained from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Patients who met the International Criteria for Behçet's Disease were selected and analysed.

Results: Among 6627 International Criteria for Behçet's Disease cases, 2651 (40.0%) were men and 3976 (60.0%) were women with a median age of 39 years (interquartile range: 31-50 years). Ocular lesion was more common in male [odds ratio (male: female) 2.64 (95% CI: 2.35, 2.95, P < 0.001)] and genital ulceration was more common in female (odds ratio = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.32, P < 0.001). Ocular lesion (P < 0.001), arthritis (P < 0.001) and vascular lesions (P < 0.001) were more frequently observed in elderly registered patients. Contrarily, genital ulceration (P < 0.001), epididymitis of males (P = 0.023) and oral ulceration (P = 0.003) were more common in younger patients. Simultaneous assessment of sex and age revealed that male predominance of ocular involvement was found in the young adult generation, but not in patients over 70 year of age. A female predominance of genital ulcer was prominently observed in patients 20-59 year of age; however, the sex difference was not found in patients over 60 years of age. Sensitivity analysis using International Study Group criteria replicated the results.

Conclusion: We showed that clinical phenotype in early phase of BD was different depending on onset age and sex.

Keywords: Behçet’s syndrome; diagnosis; epidemiology; surveys and questionnaires.