Clinical significance of metabolic syndrome and carotid intima-media thickness in BehÒ«et's disease patients: Relation to disease activity

Aim of the workThe aim of the present work was to assess the effect of metabolic syndrome (MetS) co-morbidity and the carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in Behçet's disease (BD) patients and to study their relation to clinical manifestations and disease activity.Patients and methodsThirty-eight BD patients and another 38 age and sex matched controls were studied. The disease activity was assessed using BD Current Activity Form (BDCAF) score and the adult treatment panel criteria were used to define the presence of MetS. The cIMT was measured by ultrasonographic scanning.ResultsThe BD patients were 30 males and 8 females with a mean age of 36.2 ± 7.8 years and disease duration of 7.6 ± 5.1 years. MetS was more frequent in BD patients (28.9%; 7 males and 4 females) compared to the control (10.5%; 2 males and 2 females). The mean IMT in the patients (0.78 ± 0.32 mm) was significantly increased compared to the control (0.42 ± 0.12 mm) (p < 0.001). The IMT was thickened in 9 (23.7%) patients and atherosclerotic plaques present in 6 (15.8%) with MetS. The IMT and BDCAF tended to be increased in those with MetS compared to those without. The IMT in the BD patients significantly correlated with the BDCAF (r = 0.47, p = 0.003), serum creatinine (r = 0.33, p = 0.04), urea (r = 0.53, p = 0.001) and triglycerides (r = 0.45, p = 0.005). The IMT tended to be increased in the male patients.ConclusionMetabolic syndrome is an important co-morbidity in BD patients and measuring the IMT is essential to avoid an increase in flares or the consequent development of cardiovascular diseases or renal impairment.