Table 2. Maximun standardised uptake values (mean±SD) in the vascular compartments of the three study groups.

Vessel	Active vasculitis (steroid-naïve)	Vasculitis on steroids (GCA, PMR)	No vasculitis subjects
Thoracic aorta	3.38±0.99a**	2.32±0.39*	1.77±0.24
Abdominal aorta	3.26±0.76a**	2.26±0.53*	1.81±0.27
Iliacs	2.43±0.82a**	1.77±0.32 (NS)	1.49±0.28
Femorals	2.01±0.83*	1.99±0.36*	1.43±0.29
Carotids	3.40±0.74a**	1.79±0.39 (NS)	1.37±0.32
Subclavians	3.40±1.42a**	1.34±0.28 (NS)	1.10±0.26

GCA, giant cell arteritis; PMR, polymyalgia rheumatica; SD, standard deviation.

Symbols (*, **, NS) indicate the p-value of the analysis of variance comparisons with the Bonferroni corrections between groups “steroid-naïve vasculitis” and “vasculitis on steroids” and the group “no vasculitis” (reference group): *statistically significant at a level <0.05; **statistically significant at a level <0.001; NS, non-significant difference.

^aIndicates whether there was a statistically significant difference at p<0.05 between “steroid-naïve vasculitis” and “vasculitis on steroids” groups.