Prognostic comparison of Behcet's disease with or without HLA-Bw 51 antigen

ABSTRACT

To know the prognosis of Behcet's disease with HLA-Bw 51 antigen, comparison studies of 24 cases of Behcet's disease were investigated. The sex distribution was 14 males (58%) and 10 females (42%). The patients were grouped into three clinical types the complete type with 11 cases (45%), the incomplete type with eight cases (33%) and the suspect type with five cases (22%), according to the criteria established by the Behcet's Disease Research Committee in Japan (1982). They were also divided into three ocular types according to the location of the inflammation the anterior segment type, the fundus type and the mixed type. They were divided into 10%, 10% and 60% in HLA-Bw 51 negative group and 14%, 22% and 64% in HLA-Bw 51 positive group, respectively. Skin lesions observed in 30% of the HLA-Bw 51 negative group and 70% of the HLA-Bw 51 positive group, which was statistically significant (p 0.1).