Yonsei Med J.  1997 Dec;38(6):428-436. 10.3349/ymj.1997.38.6.428.

Epidemiological and clinical features of Behcet's disease in Korea

• Bang D
• Yoon KH
• Chung HG
• Choi EH
• Lee ES
• Lee S

• KMID: 2158072
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.1997.38.6.428

Abstract

Behcet's disease occurs with a high prevalence in the Far East including Korea. In this report we inspected 1,155 patients with Behcet's disease and collected information concerning the clinical and epidemiologic features of Behcet's disease in Korea. In summary, patients in their 30s were the most common, with the most common age of onset in the 20s; the sex ratio was 0.63:1 with female predominance; according to revised Shimizu's classification, the order of frequency of the different types was incomplete (38.2%), suspected (25.4%), possible (20.3%) and complete (16.1%); oral ulcers were the most frequent major symptom (97.5%) and the most common initial symptom (78.5%); erythema nodosum-like lesion (55.3%) was the most common type of skin lesion; a seasonal aggravation of the disease was observed in 21.3% of patients; and the most common type of childhood onset Behcet's disease was suspected type.

Keyword

Behcet's disease; clinical and epidemiologic features

MeSH Terms

Adolescence
Adult
Age Distribution
Aged
Behcet's Syndrome/epidemiology*
Behcet's Syndrome/complications
Behcet's Syndrome/classification
Child
Female
Human
Korea/epidemiology
Male
Middle Age
Sex Distribution