The assessment of contributing factors to oral ulcer presence in Behçet’s disease: Dietary and non-dietary factors

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the contributing factors for oral ulcer activity in Behçet’sdisease (BD).Methods: Ninety-two patients with BD (F/M: 42/50, mean age: 38.7±10.02 years) participated in thiscross-sectional study. Data regarding disease-related factors, smoking patterns, and self-reported di-etary/non-dietary triggering factors for oral ulcer activity were collected by a questionnaire. Treat-ment protocol was categorized as mild and intensive groups associated with organ involvements.Results: A mild treatment protocol was more common in females (52.4% vs 20%) than in males(p=0.002). During the last three months, the number of oral ulcers in female patients was higherin the mild treatment group (6.4±6.5) than in the intensive treatment group (3.3±4.9) (p=0.045). Inpatients with active oral ulcers (n=63), rate of being a non-smoker was also higher in females (86.7%vs 63.6%) than in males. Daily frequency of tooth brushing was 1.2±0.8 in patients with BD, and washigher in females (1.5±0.9 vs 0.9±0.6) (p=0.001). Stress and fatigue (78.3%) were reported as the mostfrequent triggering factors for oral ulcer presence in patients with BD. A total of 148 different dietaryfactors associated with oral ulcer presence were reported in the study.Conclusion: A mild treatment protocol and being a non-smoker were found to be the contributingfactors associated with oral ulcer activity in patients with BD. Being motivated for oral hygiene andbeing non-smokers were positive health behaviors observed in females. Irrespective of gender, stressand fatigue were defined as the most common self-reported triggering factors for oral ulcer presencein BD. In addition, the roles of some dietary factors were also reported.