Does illness perception associate with disease symptoms in Behcet's disease?

Abstract

This study aims to assess the relationship between illness perception and disease course and symptoms in Behcet disease (BD). One hundred ten consecutive BD patients (F/M 50/60, mean age 38.5 +/- 9.88years) and 57 patients with Psoriasis as a disease control group (F/M 28/29, mean age 48.12 +/- 15.52) are included in this cross-sectional study. Illness perception is evaluated using a revised version of the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R). In IPQ-R, the identity score reflecting the number of symptoms is higher in BD patients with musculoskeletal involvement than the others (6.77 +/- 2.91 vs. 5.08 +/- 3.3, respectively, p=0.007). The consequences score for musculoskeletal involvement (19.52 +/- 7.03) and timeline (acute/chronic) score for eye involvement (26.67 +/- 4.32) are also higher compared to patients without them (16.37 +/- 5.82 and 22.09 +/- 8.68) (p=0.011 and p=0.038), reflecting negative beliefs about the illness. The score of psychological attribution is higher in patients with psoriasis than BD (p=0.039), whereas the other subgroup scores are lower in patients with psoriasis compared to those of BD (p<0.05). This study provides a patient's perspective in the disease management process of BD using the IPQ-R questionnaire. A patient's own personal beliefs and emotional responses to their symptoms might affect the outcome measures, especially with musculoskeletal symptoms and eye involvement in BD. However, psychological attribution is found to be a prominent issue in psoriasis.