Incidence, prevalence and survival of biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis in Northern Italy during a 26-year period

To investigate the epidemiology and mortality in patients with biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis (GCA) in Northern Italy. METHODS: All patients with incident temporal artery biopsy-positive GCA diagnosed between 1986 and 2012 living in the Reggio Emilia area were identified using pathology register and by reviewing all histopathological specimens. For each patient, we identified one comparison subject from the same geographic area matched for age and gender. Mortality rates and specific causes of death were reported. RESULTS: There were 285 incident cases of biopsy-proven GCA (210 women) during the 26-year study period. The overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence per 100,000 persons aged 50 years or older was 5.8 (95%CI: 5.1 to 6.5). Incidence was significantly higher in women (7.8, 95%CI: 6.7 to 8.9) than in men (3.3, 95%CI: 2.6 to 4.1) (p<0.0001). Annual age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates significantly increased by 15.9% per 3 years from 1986 to 2000, then significantly fell by -4.8% per 3 years from 2001-2012. The prevalence of GCA on December 31, 2012 was 87.9 (95%CI: 75.8 to 101.4). No significant differences in the mortality rates were observed between GCA patients (4.9 per 100 person-year, 95%CI: 4.1 to 5.8) and non-GCA subjects (5.6, 95%CI: 4.7 to 6.6). No significant differences in causes of death were observed comparing GCA patients to non-GCA subjects. CONCLUSIONS: This large population-based study of biopsy-proven GCA confirmed the lower incidence of GCA in Mediterranean countries and did not observe any increased mortality risk. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.