Pattern and Visual Prognostic Factors of Behcet’s Uveitis in Northwest Iran

To investigate the pattern of ocular involvement in Behcet’s disease (BD) with predictors of patients’ final state of vision.

This historical cohort encompassed the clinical records of 200 patients diagnosed according to the International Criteria for BD (ICBD), over a period of 17 years between 2004 and 2021.

The prevalence of Behcet’s uveitis (BU) was more common in females and patients in the fourth decade of life. Ninety-five patients (47.5%) had evidence of ocular involvement in the initial ophthalmologic evaluation, and 171 patients (85.5%) manifested evidence of BU during the follow-up visits of which bilateral non-granulomatous panuveitis was the most common anatomical pattern of involvement (32.9%) followed by posterior (27.6%), anterior (26.5%), and intermediate (13.8%) uveitis. The prevalent accompanying signs were oral aphthous (67%), skin lesions (29%), and genital ulcers (19.5%). Cystoid macular edema (CME) was the most frequent ocular complication (62%), followed by cataract (57.5%) and epiretinal membranes (ERM) (36.5%). Univariate analysis showed the following determinants: male gender, younger age at onset, panuveitis, posterior uveitis, retinal vasculitis, and longer duration of uveitis as poorer visual prognostic factors of the disease. Multivariate analysis demonstrated a higher chance of poor visual prognosis of BD in patients with panuveitis, posterior uveitis, retinal vasculitis, and longer duration of uveitis.

This cohort study demonstrated an overview on epidemiological patterns of BU along with the visual prognostic factors in Iranian patients.