Scientists hunt for clues to better diagnose childhood behçet disease

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Cases Inclusion Criteria : * BD diagnosis according to at least one of the three sets of classification criteria \[International Criteria for Behçet's Disease (ICBD), International Study Group (ISG) and Pediatric Behçet's disease criteria PEDBD)\]; * Age 6 months to 70 years old. * Written informed consent from appropriate legal representative(s), and assent from patients who have not reached the age of consent. Cases Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who do not meet the BD criteria OR * Patients for whom an alternative diagnosis was not investigated and/or excluded OR * Absence of a written informed consent. Healthy pediatric controls: * Patients evaluated at the Meyer Children's Hospital IRCCS Rheumatology Outpatient Clinic who are scheduled to undergo routine hematochemical tests, not for suspected inflammatory or autoimmune conditions. * Age \< 18 years, matched 1:1 by age and sex with the pediatric Behçet disease (BD) cohort. * Absence of recent or ongoing inflammatory conditions, verified through structured medical history and physical examination. * No clinical signs suggestive of chronic autoinflammatory or autoimmune diseases at physical examination . * No recent prolonged use (more than 7 consecutive days within the past 4 weeks) of anti-inflammatory, glucocorticoids, immunomodulatory, therapies or antibiotics. * Written informed consent from the legal guardian(s) and assent from minors when appropriate. Healthy Controls Exclusion Criteria * Diagnosis of acute or chronic inflammatory, autoimmune, or autoinflammatory conditions after the collection of structured medical history and physical examination * Current or recent prolonged use (more than 7 consecutive days within the past 4 weeks) of anti-inflammatory drugs, gluccocorticoids, immunomodulatory agents, or antibiotics. * Routine blood tests not performed during the visit. * Absence of written informed consent.