Ocular Behçet’s Disease: Changing Patterns Over Time, Complications and Long-Term Visual Prognosis

ABSTRACTPurpose: To investigate demographic, clinical features and complications of Italian patients with ocular Behcet’s disease (BD) over time.Methods: Retrospective study of 385 patients examined from 1968 to 2011, 265 of whom had follow-up ≥ 12 months.Results: A significant increase in the proportion of females (p = 0.03) and anterior uveitis (p < 0.001), and a decrease in the complete type of BD in all patients (p = 0.003) and in males (p = 0.002), and in hypopyon (p = 0.024) were observed over time. Optic neuropathy (p < 0.0001), maculopathy (p = 0.002), retinal detachment, and retinal neovascularization (p = 0.02) decreased over time, with no difference between genders, concomitant with an increase in the use of immunosuppressive drugs (p = 0.003). Visual acuity ≤1/10 was detected more often in males than females (p = 0.003).Conclusions: A significant shift in clinical manifestations of BD patients was observed over 44 years. Immunosuppressive therapy succeeded in lowering ocular complications. The...