Nizar A Jassim¹, Noor Hassan A. Alrasool², Faiq I Gorial^1,

Background: Behcet’s disease (BD) is a multisystemic vasculitis. Low serum vitamin D status is closely associated with disease risk of BD. Objective: To evaluate serum vitamin D level in Iraqi patients with BD. Patients and methods: In this case control study, A 43 patients with BD were diagnosed according to International Study Group Criteria and 24 healthy persons recruited as a control group were enrolled in the study. Total serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (vitamin D) was assessed in both groups and levels ≥22 ng/ml were considered sufficient, while levels of <22 ng/ml were considered low. Results: The mean age for BD patients was 34.2±9.6 years compared to 31.8±6.5 years in control group. Male represented 69% in BD and 70% of healthy controls. Mean disease duration for BD was 5.9±6.7 years. The mean BMI of BD patients was 27.1±4.5 Kg/m² compared to 27.4±3.5 Kg/m² in controls. The demographic and clinical characteristics of study sample showed no significant clinical difference between patients and controls apart from current smoking which was significantly associated with BD (P < 0.05). Serum vitamin D levels were significantly lower in patients with BD than controls (P<0.001). Serum vitamin D levels were significantly inversely correlated with BD duration. Conclusion: serum vitamin D levels were significantly lower in BD patients compared to controls.

Behcet’s disease, serum vitamin D, vasculitis, Vitamin D and Behcet’s disease