Microalbuminuria as an early marker of renal involvement in Behcet's disease: it is associated with neurological involvement and duration of the disease

Background Despite its nature as a systemic vasculitis, renal involvement is known to occur infrequently in Behçet’s Disease (BD). Objectives Our aim was to investigate proteinuria, microhematuria and microalbuminuria in 24‐h urine and evaluate subclinical or symptomatic renal involvement in BD patients. Methods Two hundred and eleven patients who fulfilled the International Behçet’s Disease criteria were included in the study. After urine analysis, five of 12 patients who were found to have proteinuria underwent renal biopsy, while 199 patients without proteinuria were investigated for microalbuminuria (MA). Results A total of 34 (16.1%) patients were found to have renal involvement including 22 (11.1%) with MA and 12 with proteinuria (5.6%). Renal biopsies resulted as focal glomerulosclerosis in three, membranous glomerulosclerosis in one and secondary amyloidosis in two patients. Neurological involvement was found to be significantly more prevalent in patients with MA (P