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Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a granulomatous vasculitis of large and medium-sized arteries that occurs in individuals aged ≥50 years.1 A recent study suggested that the age at incidence of GCA may be increasing.2 To address this issue, we studied the trends in mean age at onset of GCA over a 55-year period.
A population-based incident cohort of 173 patients with GCA diagnosed between 1 January 1950 and 31 December 1999 has been established using the resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project.3 4 We extended the cohort to include 34 new cases of GCA diagnosed between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2004. Patients were included in the study if they fulfilled the 1990 American College of Rheumatology criteria.5 Age- and sex-specific incidence rates were calculated based …
Footnotes
Competing interests None.
Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the Institutional Review Boards of the Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.