Target organ associations in Turkish patients with Behçet's disease: a cross sectional study by exploratory factor analysis

Abstract

Objective: To look for target organ associations in Turkish patients with Behçet's disease (BD).

Methods: We studied target organ associations in 272 consecutive patients with BD. The occurrence of any of the clinical manifestations related to BD within the previous 3 months was sought by history questionnaire completed by a rheumatologist and by physical examination. Factor analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results: Four factors were identified by factor analysis of variables oral and genital ulcers, erythema nodosum, papulopustular skin lesions, uveitis, superficial and deep vein thrombosis, joint, arterial, neurological, and gastrointestinal involvement; the 4 identified factors explained 69% of the original information of the matrix. There was an association between oral ulcers, genital ulcers, and erythema nodosum (Factor 1); and between superficial and deep vein thrombosis (Factor 2). Uveitis was identified as a distinct feature, and was negatively associated with erythema nodosum (Factor 3) only among the females. There was also an association between papulopustular skin lesions and joint involvement (Factor 4). Factors 2 and 3 had higher scores in males (p = 0.001 and p = 0.009, respectively) versus females.

Conclusion: We studied clinical features of BD in Turkish patients. The 4 factors we identified by factor analysis differ from a previous study from Israel, probably due to different methodologies used in the 2 studies. One factor described in our study, the association between papulopustular lesions and arthritis, supports findings of our recent study. A recognized association between superficial and deep vein thrombosis was also confirmed.