COVID-19 in Patıents Wıth Behcet’s Dısease: Outcomes and Rate of Behçet’s Exacerbatıons ın a Retrospectıve Cohort

Polat, Bünyamin; Erden, Abdulsamet; Güven, Serdar Can; Armağan, Berkan; Karakaş, Özlem; Özdemir, Bahar; Apaydın, Hakan; Usul, Eren; Ateş, İhsan; Küçükşahin, Orhan; Omma, Ahmet

OBJECTIVES: Aim of this study is to investigate the outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in our cohort of Behçet’s disease (BD) patients in means of mortality, admission to hospital and/or intensive care unit and length of hospital stay, additionally, to reveal rate of BD exacerbations due to COVID-19. METHODS: A retrospective cohort was formed from patients who have previously been followed with a diagnosis of BD. Patients of this cohort were retrospectively evaluated for a positive severe acute respiratory syndrome – coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV 2) polymerized chain reaction (PCR) test result. In PCR positive patients, demographics, comorbid diseases, active medical treatment for BD and information regarding hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, mortality were collected from medical records. PCR positive patients were reached via phone numbers and Behçet’s Disease Current Activity Form (BDCAF) scores for pre and post-COVID-19 BD symptoms were calculated. RESULTS: Out of a total 648 BD patients, 59 were detected to have a positive SARS-CoV 2 PCR test. 88.1% of these patients were under colchicine treatment and 28.8% of patients were under azathioprine treatment. 3 of the 59 patients (5.0%) were found to be hospitalized, none of them was admitted to the intensive care unit or died. An increasing trend in the frequency of comorbid diseases and older age was observed in hospitalized patients. 32.2% of BD patients suffered from exacerbation of at least one symptom related to BD when evaluated with BDCAF, arthralgia/arthritis being the most common. CONCLUSIONS: We observed no intensive care unit admission or mortality with COVID-19 in our BD patient cohort. A substantial number of patients suffered from exacerbation of BD symptoms.