Familial aggregation of Behcet's disease in Turkey

Abstract

Objective-Familial aggregation of Behcet's disease has been reported previously. The current study aimed at investigating the sibling recurrence risk ratio (lambda s) for Behcet's disease, which is of value in the estimation of the magnitude of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of Behcet's disease. Methods-170 consecutive unrelated index cases (98 male, 72 female) were interviewed with a detailed questionnaire to ascertain their family trees and the manifestations of Behcet's disease in their relatives, Subsequently, the immediately older sibling, or if an older sibling was not available, the immediately younger sibling, was selected as the second sibling for the evaluation. These siblings were contacted by telephone, and all subjects with recurrent oral ulcers were invited for examination.