Psychosocial and Functional Determinants of Central Sensitisation in Patients with Behçet's Disease: A...

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of central sensitisation (CS) in patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and to examine its association with disease activity, psychological distress, sleep quality, pain characteristics, and quality of life.

The study included 99 patients with BD and 67 healthy controls. CS was assessed using the Central Sensitisation Inventory (CSI), with a cutoff score of ≥40. Disease activity was evaluated using the Behçet's Disease Current Activity Form (BDCAF) and the Behçet's Syndrome Activity Scale (BSAS). Psychological distress, pain quality, sleep quality, health status, and functionality were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Pain Quality Assessment Scale (PQAS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Short Form 36 (SF-36), The Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), respectively. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses were performed, adjusting for age and gender.

CS was present in 39.4% of BD patients and 3.0 % of controls (p < 0.001). BD patients with CS had significantly higher anxiety, depression, pain severity, disease activity, disability, and sleep disturbance, and lower SF-36 scores (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, anxiety and depression were independently associated with higher CSI scores, but only depression remained an independent predictor of CS (OR = 1.486, 95% CI: 1.148-1.923, p = 0.003). The final model explained 41% of CSI variance (adjusted R² = 0.41).

CS in BD is closely linked to psychological factors, independent of disease activity, although causality cannot be inferred from this cross-sectional study.