Giant cell arteritis in China: a prospective investigation

The objective of this prospective study was to investigate further the clinical features of patients with giant cell (temporal) arteritis (GCA). All patients diagnosed from July 1999 to March 2001 at the Department of Neurology of the Second Xiangya Hospital in China were included. The final diagnosis was based on clinical manifestations, a temporal artery biopsy, response to steroid, and follow-up. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for the classification of GCA were tested in the patients identified. Sixteen patients with GCA were identified; 13 (81.25%) patients fulfilled the 1990 ACR criteria for the classification of GCA. Clinical findings included the following: mean age at disease onset 43.13 years (range 28-60) and 81.25% of the patients under the age of 50 when the disease began; men 93.75%; the common initial symptoms including new headache 62.50% and.visual symptoms 18.75%; the common clinical findings at presentation including new headache 93.75%, temporal artery abnormality 81.25%, visual abnormality 56.25%, and fever 25.00%; raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) 68.75%; and uncommon findings including jaw claudication, ptosis, fatigue, syncope, hemiparesis; all 16 patients underwent a temporal artery biopsy; inflammatory cell infiltration 68.75% in arterial wall, fragmented internal elastica 100.00%, fibrinoid necrosis 18.75%, smooth muscle cell changes 62.50%, and thrombosis in the lumen 31.25%. The mean time from symptom onset to suspicion of GCA or biopsy was 5.52 months (range 0.25-24.33); the initial diagnosis was wrong in 87.50% of patients. These examples are too small a number to permit definite conclusion. But the results suggest that GCA may not be a rare disorder in China, mean age at disease onset was relatively young, males may be more susceptible, the clinical features of GCA have not been widely appreciated yet, there was a delay between diagnosis and treatment, and initial diagnosis was wrong in many patients.