Pattern and Visual Prognostic Factors of Behcet’s Uveitis in Northwest Iran

PURPOSE: To investigate the pattern of ocular involvement in Behcet's disease (BD) with predictors of patients' final state of vision. METHODS: This historical cohort encompassed the clinical records of 200 patients diagnosed according to the International Criteria for BD (ICBD), over a period of 17 years between 2004 and 2021. RESULTS: The prevalence of Behcet's uveitis (BU) was more common in females and patients in the fourth decade of life. Ninety-five patients (47.5%) had evidence of ocular involvement in the initial ophthalmologic evaluation, and 171 patients (85.5%) manifested evidence of BU during the follow-up visits of which bilateral non-granulomatous panuveitis was the most common anatomical pattern of involvement (32.9%) followed by posterior (27.6%), anterior (26.5%), and intermediate (13.8%) uveitis. The prevalent accompanying signs were oral aphthous (67%), skin lesions (29%), and genital ulcers (19.5%). Cystoid macular edema (CME) was the most frequent ocular complication (62%), followed by cataract (57.5%) and epiretinal membranes (ERM) (36.5%). Univariate analysis showed the following determinants: male gender, younger age at onset, panuveitis, posterior uveitis, retinal vasculitis, and longer duration of uveitis as poorer visual prognostic factors of the disease. Multivariate analysis demonstrated a higher chance of poor visual prognosis of BD in patients with panuveitis, posterior uveitis, retinal vasculitis, and longer duration of uveitis. CONCLUSION: This cohort study demonstrated an overview on epidemiological patterns of BU along with the visual prognostic factors in Iranian patients.