Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 29, 2025

Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Skeletal Muscle Disease
Published on: December 18, 2016
Did the first description of patients with polymyalgia rheumatica take place in Scotland or in Denmark?
C Manzo1, M Isetta2, A Castagna3
1Internal and Geriatric Medicine Department, Rheumatology Outpatient Clinic, Health Authority Napoli 3 sud, Sant'Agnello. manzoreumatologo@libero.it.
Abstract:
The first description of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is generally attributed to Dr. Bruce. In an 1888 article entitled Senile rheumatic gout, he described five male patients aged from 60 to 74 years whom he had visited at the Strathpeffer spa in Scotland. In 1945, Dr. Holst and Dr. Johansen reported on five female patients examined over several months at the Medical Department of Roskilde County Hospital in Denmark. These patients suffered from hip, upper arms, and neck pain associated with elevated ESR and constitutional manifestations such as low-grade fever or loss of weight. In the same year, Meulengracht, another Danish physician, reported on two patients with shoulder pain and stiffness associated with fever, weight loss, and an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate. As in the five patients reported by Dr. Holst and Dr. Johansen, a prolonged recovery time was recorded. On reading and comparing these three accounts, we question whether it is correct to attribute the first description of PMR to Dr. Bruce and put forward shifting this accolade to the three Danish physicians.

