The prevalence of atopy in patients with familial Mediterranean fever and Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of atopy in patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF).

METHODS: In this study, 42 BD patients, 40 FMF patients and 49 healthy subjects were included. The skin test was applied to the whole group. If one or more allergen response was equal or greater than histamine response, it was accepted as atopy. At the same time, total serum IgE and peripheral blood eosinophil levels were also determined.

RESULTS: The frequency of atopy was found to be 2.4% (1/42 patients) in BD patients and 5% (2/40 patients) in FMF patients and 16.3% (8/49 individuals) in healthy controls. In the BD patients, positivity to skin prick test was significantly lower than the control group (p=0.035). The mean serum total IgE level and eosinophil counts did not differ between the three groups. In 33.3% of BD patients, 39.8% of FMF patients and 20.8% of controls levels of IgE lower than 20 kU/L were found (both groups p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The related conditions with Th-2 cell response such as atopy seem to be low frequency in BD and FMF patients.