Risk of Behçet’s Disease Heightened in First-Degree Relatives

The risk of Behçet's disease is increased in family members of individuals with the disorder, according to a study published in Rheumatology.

“Previous studies have indicated that Behçet’s disease has a genetic component,” researchers explained in the study introduction, “however population-level familial risk estimates are unavailable.”

To study family incidence of Behçet’s disease in first-degree relatives, researchers used the Korean National Health Insurance database, which covers the full population. Investigators constructed a cohort of more than 21 million people from 12 million families and looked for family occurrences of Behçet’s disease between 2002 and 2017.

Some 53,687 people in the total study population had affected first-degree relatives. Among them, 284 developed Behçet's disease, according to the study.

Familial risk for Behçet’s disease was increased 13.1-fold in individuals with an affected father, 13.9-fold with affected mother, and 15.2-fold with an affected sibling, the study found. The highest risk, at 165-fold, was for individuals with an affected twin.

“Familial risks were higher within generation (sibling–sibling) vs between generations (parent–offspring),” researchers wrote. “This implicates complex interactions between genetic factors and shared childhood environmental exposures in the pathogenesis of Behçet’s disease.”

—Jolynn Tumolo

Reference

Ahn HS, Kim HJ, Kazmi SZ, et al. Familial risk of Behçet's disease among first-degree relatives: a population-based aggregation study in Korea. Rheumatology. 2021;60(6):2697-2705.