Giant Cell Arteritis Occurs at Similar Rate in Blacks, Whites

FRIDAY, Aug. 9, 2019 -- Biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis (BP-GCA) occurs at a similar rate among white and black patients, according to a study published online Aug. 8 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Anna M. Gruener, B.M.B.S., from the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving all 586 patients (28.5 percent black; 65.2 percent white) who underwent temporal artery biopsy from July 1, 2007, through Sept. 30, 2017, to examine the incidence of BP-GCA.

The researchers found that within the study population, the crude annual incidence rates for BP-GCA were 2.9 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.3 to 5.5) and 4.2 (95 percent CI, 3.0 to 5.6) per 100,000 for black and white patients, respectively. For black and white patients, the population-adjusted age- and sex-standardized incidence rates were 3.1 (95 percent CI, 1.0 to 5.) and 3.6 (95 percent CI, 2.5 to 4.7), respectively, per 100,000 patients (difference, 0.5; 95 percent CI, −1.7 to 2.7; P = 0.70). The incidence rate ratio was significantly elevated for women versus men (1.9; 95 percent CI, 1.1 to 3.4; P = 0.03), but was not significant in white versus black patients (1.2; 95 percent CI, 0.6 to 2.4; P = 0.66).

"Whereas previous reports have suggested that GCA is several times more common in white than in black patients, in our study, a difference by race could not be identified," the authors write. "We therefore recommend that the same clinical thresholds for diagnosing and managing GCA be applied to black and white patients."

Posted: August 2019