Polymyalgia rheumatica with normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate: clinical aspects

Polymyalgia rheumatica is a relatively common syndrome of the elderly characterized by severe pain and stiffness in the neck shoulder and pelvic girdles, along with increased acute phase reactants. The current diagnostic criteria include as a requirement an erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) higher than 30 or 40 mm/1 hr. Nevertheless, in several reports, a sizable proportion of patients with PMR, from 7% up to 22%, had an ESR that was either normal or slightly increased at the time of diagnosis, supporting the notion that an increased ESR should not be an absolute requirement for its diagnosis. This subset is characterized by a younger age, a less marked predominance of females, a longer diagnostic delay and a lower frequency of constitutional symptoms such as fever or weight loss. When determined, a majority of these patients had increased levels of C reactive protein. The recognition of this subset of patients with PMR and a low ESR can be very useful to the clinician, avoiding unnecessary suffering of the patients and the risks of ineffective therapy with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. To avoid the over-diagnosis of PMR in patients with a low ESR, we propose a set of criteria that can be easily applied in daily practice to patients with a clinical picture consistent with PMR but with a normal or slightly increased ESR.