19th Meeting of the Irish Society of Human Genetics, Friday 9th September 2016 : Belfast City Hospital

ABSTRACT: Behcet’s disease (BD) is a complex, multifactorial rare disease, which is poorly understood. Genetic and environmental factors contribute to BD, but the process of diagnosis is challenging with inconsistent clinical manifestations. A recent survey of individuals living with rare disease(s) in Northern Ireland revealed ~50% of individuals receive ?1 misdiagnosis with 1/20 seeing >10 doctors. Individuals with BD report a range of symptoms, which are variable in onset, severity, and frequency for this systemic vasculitis. Patients describe prolonged journeys to diagnosis with multiple healthcare professionals and medical specialties; there is no BD specialist in Northern Ireland. Using invitations via social media, voluntary groups, and direct contact we are using surveys incorporating micro-narratives, one-to-one semi-structured interviews, and focus groups to collect detailed family histories and stressor information to help characterise recurrent features in patients living with BD and their relatives in Northern Ireland. BD is most often reported in populations along the Silk Road. The highest prevalence is reported in Turkey at 20-420/100,000, compared 1.5/100,000 individuals in the UK. Mapping through general practitioners revealed a much higher than expected prevalence of 12.6/100,000 in the Northern Ireland population. Clusters were observed in Co. Down and Co. Antrim and plotted with social-demographic information. This high ‘UK’ prevalence and the identification of several families with multiple members diagnosed makes NI ideal to explore genetic and epigenetic risk factors for BD. This project involves deep phenotyping and strategies to improve recognition of Behcet’s disease, build collaborative partnerships, improve data collection, enhance training, and information sharing.

SUBMITTER: Coleman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5324189 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature