Risk of malignancy in Behcet disease: A meta-analysis with systematic review

Several studies have reported the association of Behcet disease (BD) with the risk of diverse kinds of cancers. However, its association is controversial. Therefore, we conducted a bioinformatics-analysis to explore any possible association.

We obtained relevant findings published before October 2018 through literature survey of the PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. STATA 12.0 software was used for statistical analysis.

After screening, the meta-analysis comprised 5 studies. We observed a significant positive association between BD and enhanced malignancy risk (pooled relative risk [RR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09-1.30), especially for hematological cancer (pooled RR, 2.58; 95% CI: 1.61-3.55) and thyroid cancer (pooled RR, 1.25; 95% CI: 1.04-1.47). However, high heterogeneity was also observed in the results (I = 81.3%). Subgroup analysis indicated that female BD patients from Korean population are at highest predisposition to overall malignancy. Besides, publication bias was not observed with our choice of surveys.

We conclude that patients suffering from BD have an overall increased risk for malignancy. Greater numbers of exhaustive temporal studies are essential for definitive inferences.