Baseline clinical, laboratory and follow-up data of patients with giant cell arteritis
| Cohort 1 | Cohort 2 | Pooled cohorts | |
| Age, median (range) years | 80 (57–92) | 79 (63–89) | 80 (57–92) |
| Gender, male/female, n | 10/32 | 8/26 | 18/58 |
| Clinical data at diagnosis | |||
| Duration of symptoms, median (range) days | 35 (8–365) | 56 (10–728) | 45 (8–728) |
| Cranial symptoms (%) | 79 | 85.5 | 82 |
| Headache | 64 | 79.5 | 71 |
| Scalp tenderness | 42.5 | 38 | 40.5 |
| Jaw claudication | 49.5 | 38 | 43.5 |
| Stroke/visual events (%)* | 9/24 | 3/23.5 | 6/24 |
| Systemic symptoms (%) | 69.5 | 67.5 | 68.5 |
| Fever | 18 | 32.5 | 25.5 |
| Weight loss | 40 | 41 | 40.5 |
| Polymyalgia rheumatica (%) | 24 | 47 | 36 |
| Laboratory findings at diagnosis | |||
| ESR, mm/1 hour | 90±34 | 90±29 | 90±31 |
| CRP, mg/dL | 10.9±8.6 | 8.7±8.5 | 9.7±8.1 |
| Haemoglobin, mg/dL | 115±18 | 114±13 | 115±15 |
| IL-6, pg/mL | 58.76±58.64 | 42.11±38.93 | 51.27±50.82 |
| Strong SIR (%) | 27 | 35.5 | 31.5 |
| Relapses† (%) | |||
| ≥1 relapse | 56 | 53 | 54 |
| ≥2 relapses | 19.5 | 23.5 | 20.5 |
| Glucocorticoid treatment | |||
| Time to <10 mg daily, median (range) weeks | 29 (12–51) | 27 (12–172) | 28 (12–172) |
| Time to <5 mg/day, median (range) weeks | 79 (48–154) | 105 (23–423) | 92 (23–423) |
| Cumulated dose at treatment withdrawal, mean±SD (mg) | 5875±674 | 5370±962 | 5457±930 |
Strong SIR was defined as the presence of ≥3 of the following: ESR ≥85 mm/hour, haemoglobin <110 g/L, fever >37°C and weight loss >3 kg as described.25
*Visual events include diplopia and visual loss due to anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy.
†Relapses were clinically defined as depicted in the Materials and methods section and, except for three patients, were always accompanied by a rebound in ESR and CRP.
CRP, C reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; IL-6, interleukin 6; SIR, systemic inflammatory response.