Temperament and Character Traits in Patients with Behcet's Disease with/without Eye Involvement

Abstract

Purpose: Ophthalmic involvement may lead to permanent vision loss in 25% of cases in patients with BD and it is a main concern in the literature. Although several studies have been investigated, the etiology and the cause of the disease and attacks are not yet known. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between visual impairment and personal characteristics and social circumstances in patients with BD. Materials and Methods: A total of 153 patients with BD and age-and gender-matched 26 healthy control subjects completed the self report Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S and STAI-T). We classified the study participants into three groups with respect to severity of eye involvement and one control group. Each group was compared with the other two study groups and control group. Results: According to TCI, we revealed that there was a trend in BD patients with eye involvement + poor prognosis having less disorderliness traits than BD patients with eye involvement + good prognosis (p = 0.016). The BD patients with eye involvement + poor prognosis had significantly lower attachment scores than BD patients with eye involvement + good prognosis (p = 0.005) and healthy controls (p = 0.005). The BD with eye involvement + poor prognosis had lower empathy scores than healthy controls (p = 0.002). In the way of average TCI parameters, only SD was statistically significant. In terms of subdimensions of TCI parameters, RD3, SD3, SD5, and C-2 were shown to be statistically significant among some of the groups. Conclusion: BD patients with eye involvement were demonstrated to be more extravagant and socially disinterested. It may reflect that severe visual loss caused BD patients to be more systematic, depressive, self-contained, and exhausted. Considering psychological aspects of BD and its visual manifestations may contribute to helping these patients more effectively.