Abstract:

Objective: Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic relapsing systemic inflammatory disease with no clear etiopathogenesis. Because the disease usually starts during the sexually active period and shows a more severe course in males, we aimed to evaluate the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-gonadal axis in male patients. Materials and Methods: Our study included 25 male patients with Behcet's disease and 22 healthy males. In accordance with our purpose, patients and healthy participants were stimulated with gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) followed by examination of the blood for sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), cortisol, estradiol, free and total testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels. The results were compared between the groups. Results: Estradiol levels were significantly higher in the patient group (36.80±14.70 pg/ml) compared to the control group (29.30±9.15 pg/ml) (p=0.045). Conversely, DHEA levels were significantly lower in patient group (13.74±7.96 ng/ml) than in control group (18.36±7.12 ng/ml) (p=0.043). Levels of the other hormones did not show any significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: In order to better evaluate the roles of hormones and the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-gonadal axis in relation to the etiopathogenesis of BD, there is a need for larger scale studies, which also take into account disease activity.

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