Clinical course of ocular Behçet's disease in siblings.

PURPOSE: Familial occurrence has been reported in approximately 8% of Turkish patients with Behçet's disease. Our aim was to compare the clinical course of ocular Behçet's disease among siblings.

METHODS

We retrospectively studied five pairs of siblings with ocular involvement of Behçet's disease. No other family member of these siblings had any symptom of Behçet's disease.

RESULTS

The siblings comprised three sister-brother pairs, one sister-sister pair, and one brother-brother pair. There was a 5-10-year difference between the age at onset of ocular disease among siblings. Three of the five pairs (two sister-brother, one brother-brother) had a dissimilar course of disease activity. Female siblings had an earlier age at onset and tended to have a worse prognosis than their brothers.

CONCLUSIONS

It is generally acknowledged that male sex is associated with a worse prognosis. In this study, however, we observed that, among siblings with a dissimilar course, female patients were more severely affected than male patients. Poor ocular prognosis in a patient does not indicate aggressive treatment in his/her sibling. We believe that each sibling should be managed on an individual basis.