Investigating the Link Between Ischemic Heart Disease and Behcet's Disease: A Cross-sectional Analysis

Background: Behcet's disease (BD) is a multi-systemic chronic inflammatory disorder which involves the vasculature tree of all sizes. The current study's aim was to examine the association between BD and the development of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and its potential impact as a cardiovascular risk factor.

Methods: This study was conducted as a case-control study utilizing the database of Clalit Health Services. The proportion of IHD was compared between patients diagnosed with BD and age- and gender-matched controls. Univariate analysis was performed using Chi-square and Student t-test and a multivariable analysis was performed using a logistic regression model.

Results: 871 BD patients and 4439 age- and gender-matched controls were included in this study. The proportion of IHD amongst BD patients was increased in comparison with controls (10.9% vs. 7.52% respectively, p-value=0.001). BD was associated with IHD on multivariable analysis (odds ratio 1.485, 95% confidence interval 1.106-1.982). When the comparison between BD patients with IHD and controls with IHD was stratified according to risk factors, age younger than 70 and male gender were both found to be significantly elevated in the BD group.

Conclusions: BD patients have an increased proportion of IHD in comparison with matched controls. Our findings demonstrate that the population of BD patients with IHD has a higher proportion of younger males in comparison with controls with IHD.