Vascular and Neurological Manifestations of Behcet’s Disease in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

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Abstract Context: Behcet’s disease (BD) is a form of vasculitis with multisystem and multiorgan involvement. Aims: To examine vascular and neurological manifestations in patients with BD in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Settings and Design: A single-center prospective study conducted at the rheumatology outpatient clinic Military of King Fahad Medical Complex in Dhahran between January 2016 and December 2022. Thirty-one patients, with minimum of three visits per year to a rheumatology outpatient clinic, were included in the study and followed up for 6 years. Patients and Methods: Data on patients’ demographic characteristics, age at BD onset, disease duration, multiorgan manifestation, and ongoing treatment were obtained using patient records and interviews during clinic visits. Statistical Analysis Used: The Mann–Whitney U-test was used to find the significance level among variables such as sex, vascular involvement, central nervous system involvement, and family history. Qualitative variables were compared using the Fisher’s exact and Z tests for proportion analysis. Results: Despite the high rate of consanguineous marriages in Saudi Arabia, only 25.8% of patients had a positive family history of BD. The most common manifestations of BD were oral ulcers, followed by genital ulcers and articular manifestations. Eleven and 12 patients with BD experienced vascular and central nervous system events, respectively; deep-venous thrombosis in the lower extremities was the most common vascular event. Conclusions: Vascular and neurological manifestations in BD were associated with significant morbidity and mortality, with an increased tendency of occurrence in men in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.