APPLYING VASCULITIS ACTIVITY AND DAMAGE SCORES IN A GROUP OF PATIENTS WITH BEHÇET’S DISEASE – CLINICAL UTILITY

Background. Behçet’s disease is a rare type of vasculitis. Validated activity and damage scores were developed for vasculitis patients in order to allow a better way to evaluate disease activity and decide treatment plans. Objective. The main objective was to compare two vasculitis activity scores applied to a group of patients diagnosed with Behçet’s disease and establish correlations between them, damage and the need for immunosuppressive therapy. The secondary objective was to evaluate the connection between damage progression, classical immunosuppressant therapy and long-term cortisone use. Methods. A study was performed on a cohort of patients diagnosed with Behçet’s disease according The International Criteria for Behçet‘s Disease (ICBD) under surveillance in one Rheumatology Centre, from a non-endemic area. Vasculitis activity and damage scores were calculated for each patient. Results. 20 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 35.7 years ± 10.5 years standard deviation(SD), 14 (70%) under the age of 40, with a male predominance 60% (12 patients). All patients presented active disease at the time of the diagnosis. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient