FREQUENCY OF METABOLIC SYNDROME AND NON ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER IN BEHCET'S DISEASE

Abstract

Objective: Behcet's Disease (BD) is a syndrome with auto-inflammatoiy non-granulomatous chronic vasculitis characterized by multi-systemic involvements including as mucocutaneous, urogenital, ocular, vascular, articular, gastrointestinal, pulmonary and neurologic. Several studies report the presence of insulin resistance in BD but incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in this chronic inflammatory state is not clear yet. In this study, we aimed to assess the frequency of MetS and NAFLD in BD as accelerators of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular complications. Material and Method: Total 115 consecutive BD patients (male/female: 48/67) diagnosed according to International Study Group for Behcet's Disease criteria and 65 healthy controls were analyzed in this observational case-control study. MetS was diagnosed by International Diabetes Federation definition (IDF), NAFLD by ultrasonographic scoring and body and visceral fat ratio by bioelectric impedance. Results: The difference between metabolic parameters of BD and controls were: MetS (53.9% vs 2 7.5%, p<0.01), NAFLD frequency (47.8% vs 18.4%, p<0.01), HOMA-IR index (2.2 +/- 1.4 vs 1.1 +/- 0.3, p<0.01), IR (32.2% vs 12.3%, p<0.05), body fat ratio (35.4 +/- 9.0% vs 29.8 +/- 10.3%, p<0.05) and visceral fat ratio (11.1 +/- 4.6% vs 9.8 +/- 3.4, p>0.05), respectively. Homocysteine and lipoprotein-a averages in patients vs controls, males vs females and presence of insulin resistance, MetS and NAFLD were not significantly different (p>0.05). Conclusion: BD had significantly higher ratio of MetS, NAFLD and insulin resistance compared to controls. Thus, it can be concluded that cardiovascular and steatosis related risk factors should be taken into account in BD patients.