Psychiatric disorders in patients with Behçet's disease

Objective. In this study, we aimed to investigate current prevalence and related clinical factors of psychiatric disorders in Behçet patients. Methods. Seventy-three outpatients who applied to a Behçet clinic and whose diagnosis was Behçet's disease according to criteria of the International Study Group for Behçet's disease were recruited in this study. Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed with The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV/Clinical Version (SCID-I/CV). Results. Thirty patients (41.1%) reported at least one current psychiatric disorder. Major depression (17.8%) was the most frequent psychiatric disorder. Specific phobia (16.4%), generalized anxiety disorder (15.1%) and social phobia (9.6%) were other frequent disorders. Prevalence rates of any psychiatric and anxiety disorder were significantly higher in females than males. There was no significant relationship between psychiatric morbidity and clinical characteristics of Behçet's disease. Conclusion. Our study suggests that Behçet patients have high prevalence of psychiatric disorders. Therefore, psychiatric evaluation should be performed in all patients with Behçet's disease.