The association between smoking and clinical manifestations in patients with Behcet's disease / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: There is controversy related to the role of smoking in affecting the clinical features of patients with Behcet's disease (BD). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of smoking on clinical manifestations in Korean BD patients. METHODS: We enrolled 131 patients with BD who fulfilled the International Study Group (ISG) criteria of 1990. The disease-related clinical features of BD-oral ulcers, genital ulcers, ocular lesions, arthritis, vascular lesions, gastrointestinal lesions-and central nerve lesions, smoking history, disease duration, and the presence of HLA-B51 were retrospectively assessed through medical record reviews and patient interviews. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square, Fisher's exact, or student t-test, if appropriate. RESULTS: The frequencies of vascular and gastrointestinal lesions in smokers were significantly increased compared to those in non-smokers (p=0.040, OR=3.341, 95% CI 1.083-10.305; p=0.012, OR=3.878, 95% CI 1.379-10.906, respectively). Male smokers developed vascular lesions more frequently compared to female smokers, male non-smokers, and female non-smokers (p=0.025, OR=3.896, 95% CI 1.245-12.196). Moreover, smoking, male sex, and positive HLA-B51 may be risk factors for the development of gastrointestinal lesions in BD. Venous lesions were more frequently found in male smokers compared with other patients (p=0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking may be associated with the development of vascular and gastrointestinal lesions in Korean BD patients. A large population prospective assessment of the clinical effect of smoking on BD is needed.