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Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the changes in oral health parameters in patients with Behcet’s disease (BD) in a 10-year follow-up study. Patients and Methods: Eighteen BD patients (F/M: 12/6, mean 36.4 ± 9.9 years) followed regularly by clinical, laboratory and oral health examinations for 10 years, were included in the study. Oral health was evaluated by dental and periodontal indices. Patients were given oral hygiene education regularly in each visit. In addition, the number of oral ulcers per month was noted and a disease activity score was calculated. Results: Although the frequency of tooth brushing was higher for the 10-year follow up (median:1.2) than for the baseline (1.0), no significant difference was observed (p=0.06). Also there were no significant differences for the scores of periodontal indices and dental indices at baseline and follow-up (p>0.05). The number of oral ulcers/month was lower at follow-up (median:1) compared to baseline (median:6) (p=0.000). Conclusion: Although painful ulcers affect oral health negatively, dental and periodontal health remained stable in a 10-year follow-up in BD patients with motivation and education for oral hygiene. However, further studies are required to demonstrate whether better oral hygiene effects the course of oral ulcers.

WOS: 000344384906005, …

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between oral ulcer activity and medication adherence according to gender in Behcet's disease (BD) patients. Material and Methods: The study group included 330 BD patients (F/M: 167/163, mean age: 38.5 +/- 10.5 years). Oral ulcer activity and medication adherence were evaluated in the previous month. Medication adherence was evaluated using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) having a score range of 0 to 8 with high scores indicating better adherence. Low adherence was defined as < 6 points on MMAS-8. Results: Over half of the group had active oral ulcers (n= 219, 66.4%) within the month preceding the visit. The number of oral ulcers was significantly higher in female patients with low medication adherence (2.39 +/- 3.24) than in the rest of the female group (1.28 +/- 2.05; p= 0.023). Although a similar trend was also observed in male patients (2.14 +/- 3.3 vs. 1.81 +/- 2.31), a significant relationship was not observed (p= 0.89). The frequency of medication intake per day was lower in patients with high medication adherence than in the rest of the study group (p= 0.04). Conclusion: Low medication adherence is a hidden risk factor in the management of BD. Poor adherence was associated with oral ulcer activity in female BD patients.

Objective. To determine the ability of the new American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk algorithm in detecting high cardiovascular (CV) risk, RA patients identified by carotid ultrasonography (US) were compared with Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) and QRisk II algorithms. Methods. SCORE, QRisk II, 2013 ACC/AHA 10-year ASCVD risk and EULAR recommended modified versions were calculated in 216 RA patients. In sonographic evaluation, carotid intima-media thickness >0.90 mm and/or carotid plaques were used as the gold standard test for subclinical atherosclerosis and high CV risk (US+). Results. Eleven (5.1%), 15 (6.9%) and 44 (20.4%) patients were defined as having high CV risk according to SCORE, QRisk II and ACC/AHA 10-year ASCVD risk, respectively. Fifty-two (24.1%) patients were US+ and of those, 8 (15.4%), 7 (13.5%) and 23 (44.2%) patients were classified as high CV risk according to SCORE, QRisk II and ACC/AHA 10-year ASCVD risk, respectively. The ACC/AHA 10-year ASCVD risk index better identified US+ patients than SCORE and QRisk II (P < 0.0001). With EULAR modification, reclassification from moderate to high risk occurred only in two, five and seven patients according to SCORE, QRisk II and ACC/AHA 10-year ASCVD risk, respectively. Conclusion. The 2013 ACC/AHA 10-year ASCVD risk estimator was better than the SCORE and QRisk II indices in RA, but still failed to identify 55% of high risk patients. Furthermore adjustment of threshold and EULAR modification did not work well.