Smoking and Behcet's disease

It has recently been claimed that some of the symptoms in patients with Beh cet's disease (BD) can be activated after the patient has stopped smoking. In this study we investigated the effect of smoking on the symptoms of Behc et's disease. Fifty asymptomatic current smokers (CS) who promised to stop smoking (group 1) and 60 current non-smokers (NS) (group 2) (21 of them ex- smokers) with ED were examined at the beginning and a week later for the pr esence of symptoms of ED. Forty-seven of the 50 CS completed the study. Ora l aphthous ulcers were observed in 31 (65.9%) of them at the end of the stu dy period. Besides oral aphthous lesions, genital ulcers were detected in t wo and erythema nodosum in two other patients. Only 15 (25%) group 2 patien ts developed oral aphthous ulcers during the study period. The difference b etween the frequencies of oral aphthous lesions in these groups was signifi cant (p=0.0002). We concluded that cessation of cigarette smoking can activ ate the mucocutaneous symptoms, especially oral aphthous lesions, in patien ts with BD.