[Characteristics of giant cell arteritis patients under and over 75-years-old: A comparative study on 164 patients]

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common vasculitis of the elderly. In order to assess the impact of age at diagnosis, we compared the characteristics of patients of less than 75 years (<75 years), to those of the 75 years and over (≥75 years).

We conducted a retrospective study on 164 patients with GCA diagnosed from 2005 to 2017. All patients had at least 3/5 of the ACR criteria and had a CT-scan at diagnosis. The mean age was of 73±9.6 years. The age was<75 years for 84 patients (59 women) and≥75 years for 80 patients (53 women).

Patients≥75 years had more cardiovascular underlying diseases (P=0.026), a higher rate of hypertension (P=0.005) and more ophthalmic complications (P=0.02). They had less large vessel involvement (P<0.001), showed lower biological inflammatory reaction and had a more frequently positive temporal artery histology (P=0.04). The oral initial dose of corticosteroids did not differ between the groups. Corticosteroids pulse therapy was more frequent in patients≥75 years (P=0.01). The frequency of anti-platelet agents use was similar in the two groups. Relapse rate, corticodependance and the rate of corticosteroids weaning were similar in both groups.

Patients≥75 years at diagnosis of GCA were at lower risk of aortitis but were more likely to suffer from ophthalmic complications and to receive corticosteroid pulse therapy.