Table 1.
Characteristics of studied subjects at blood sampling
| HD (n=28) | Active GCA (n=14) | Inactive GCA (n=27) | P† | |
| Age (years)—median (IQR) | 61.8 (58.9–76.8) | 68.3 (63.3–77.7) | 69.3 (61.5–77.1) | 0.3548 (ns) |
| Sex, female—no (%) | 15 (53.6) | 8 (57.1) | 16 (59.2) | 0.9122 (ns) |
| N.European ethnicity—no (%) | 27 (96.4) | 13 (92.3) | 23 (85.2) | 0.3260 (ns) |
| Disease duration (years)—median (IQR) | – | 1.1 (0.1–4.1) | 3.5 (0.8–6.2) | 0.1446 (ns) |
| CRP (mg/L)—median (IQR) | – | 30.9 (11.1–60.6) | 1 (0.5–2.6) | <0.001‡ |
| ESR 1 hour (mm)—median (IQR) | – | 45 (33–80.5) | 8 (5–22) | <0.001‡ |
| Relapsed cases—no (%) | – | 8 (57.1) | – | – |
| TCZ—no (%) | – | – | 12 (44.4) | – |
| Duration of TCZ treatment, median (years)—median (IQR) | – | – | 1 (0.4–2.8) | – |
| Corticosteroids as monotherapy—no (%) | – | 3 (21.4) | 8 (29.6) | 0.7186 (ns) |
| Prednisolone or prednisolone equivalent dose (mg)—median (IQR) | – | 0 (0–5) | 2.5 (0–5) | 0.2040 (ns) |
| MTX—no (%) | – | – | 7 (25.9) | – |
| LFN—no (%) | – | 1 (7.1) | 1 (3.7) | – |
*P<0.05.
†P<0.001.
‡ns, non-significant.
CRP, C reactive protein; GCA, giant cell arteritis; HD, healthy blood donor; LFN, leflunomide; MTX, methotrexate; ns, non-significant; TCZ, tocilizumab.