Smoking and Behçet’s disease
Reviewed by Jonathan C P Roos

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between smoking and prognosis of ocular Behçet’s disease (BD). Records of 202 patients with ocular features of BD were reviewed from a Turkish hospital. Patients were divided into two groups according to their smoking habits; in group 1, 72 patients were current smokers, and in group 2, 130 were nonsmokers. Smoking status was not found to be associated with the location of inflammation. The average time to resolution and time of recurrences was similar in both groups. Previous studies have reported that stopping smoking could activate or aggravate the disease, especially mucocutaneous lesions, and increase the risk of cystoid macular oedema (CMO). Data from this current report showed that being a smoker is not a statistically significant risk factor for CMO in patients with ocular BD. The authors conclude that smoking does not have a negative effect on the clinical findings and prognosis of uveitis in BD.

Is smoking a risk factor in ocular Behçet’s disease.
Bilgin AB, Turkoglu EB, Ilhan HD, et al.
OCULAR IMMUNOLOGY AND INFLAMMATION
2015;23(4):283-6.