Table 1.
Baseline characteristics at GCA diagnosis
| Characteristic, n (%) | Totald N=114 |
Biopsy provena,d N=60 |
Imaging onlyb,d N=41 |
Clinically diagnosedc N=13 |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, yearse | 70.4 (8.2) | 72.0 (7.9) | 66.8 (7.7) | 74.1 (7.7) | 0.002 |
| Sex, female | 69 (60.5) | 36 (60) | 26 (63) | 7 (54) | 0.82g |
| Time from GCA diagnosis to TCZ onset, mo.f | 4.5 [1.2–21.0] | 3.2 [1.2–19.7] | 7.0 [1.2–23.7] | 4.6 [1.5–16.3] | 0.55 |
| Length of follow-up, mo.f | 34.5 [19.5–54.8] | 31.8 [16.9–46.1] | 44.5 [26.1–79.7] | 34.0 [15.7–38.3] | 0.02 |
| Large Vessel Vasculitis | 47 (41.2) | 6 (10) | 41 (100) | 0 (0) | <0.001 |
| Systemic Symptoms | |||||
| Fever | 17/113 (15.0) | 8 (13) | 9/40 (23) | 0 (0) | 0.12 |
| Weight loss (5 pounds or >10% premorbid weight) | 22/113 (19.5) | 11 (18) | 11/40 (28) | 0 (0) | 0.09 |
| Polymyalgia Rheumatica | 43/113 (38.1) | 22 (37) | 15/40 (38) | 6 (46) | 0.81 |
| Ischemic Manifestations | |||||
| Headache | 80/113 (70.8) | 52 (87) | 16/40 (40) | 12 (92) | <0.001 |
| Jaw Claudication | 40/112 (35.7) | 32/59 (54) | 4/40 (10) | 4 (31) | <0.001 |
| Arm Claudication | 9 (7.9) | 1 (2) | 8 (20) | 0 (0) | 0.003 |
| Leg Claudication | 5/113 (4.4) | 1 (2) | 4/40 (10) | 0 (0) | 0.10 |
| Temporal Artery Tenderness | 19/113 (16.8) | 12 (20) | 2/40 (5) | 5 (38) | 0.01 |
| Decreased temporal artery pulses | 9/113 (8.0) | 4 (7) | 3/40 (8) | 2 (15) | 0.57 |
| Decreased large artery pulses | 7 (6.1) | 0 (0) | 7 (17) | 0 (0) | 0.001 |
| Transient Vision loss | 12/113 (10.6) | 10 (17) | 0/40 (0) | 2 (15) | 0.03 |
| Permanent Vision loss | 10/113 (8.8) | 8 (13) | 0/40 (0) | 2 (15) | 0.05 |
| Classification Criteria | |||||
| Fulfilled 1990 ACR Criteria for GCA | 76 (66.7) | 55 (92) | 9 (22) | 12 (92) | <0.001 |
| Fulfilled 2022 ACR/EULAR Criteria for GCA | 95 (83.3) | 59 (98) | 24 (59) | 12 (92) | <0.001 |
| Did not meet 1990 ACR but met 2022 ACR/EULAR criteria | 21/38 (55.3) | 5/5 (100) | 15/32 (47) | 1/1 (100) | 0.06 |
| Did not meet either 1990 ACR or 2022 ACR/EULAR criteriah | 17 (14.9) | 0 (0) | 17 (41) | 0 (0) | --- |
ACR, American College of Rheumatology; EULAR, European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology; GCA, giant cell arteritis; mo., month; TCZ tocilizumab.
Biopsy proven with or without imaging
Imaging showing evidence of large vessel vasculitis with either a negative biopsy or none performed
Clinical diagnosis of GCA without imaging or biopsy positivity or none completed
If data missing/unavailable, denominator listed if different from listed total
mean±standard deviation
median [interquartile range]
Kruskal-Wallis p-value
all patients had positive arterial imaging consistent with large-vessel vasculitis but patients included here had CT or MR angiography that was outside of the ‘bilateral axillary involvement’.