Nationwide study confirms elderly, female, white populations have higher incidence of GCA
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Older, white and female populations are at the highest risk for developing giant cell arteritis, according to research presented at the Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium.
Karen Qiang, BS, said that previous research had found giant cell arteritis (GCA) was more predominant in these population groups, but a recent single-center study found the incidence among white and Black populations to be more similar than previously thought.
“This was the first study to find similar incidence among white and Black populations. However, it was done at a singular tertiary care center in Baltimore and may not be representative of the United States population as a whole,” she said. “We, therefore, performed our study to fill these gaps in the current literature using a national survey database for all GCA-related hospitalizations.”
Researchers explored data from more than 200,000 patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of GCA. Among this group, more than 80% were older than 70 years and just 1% were younger than 50 years. Additionally, the vast majority were white, 7% were Black, 4% were Hispanic and 1% were Asian.
The national incidence of GCA-related hospitalization was 6.42 per 100,000 people and 19.81 per 100,000 in individuals aged 50 years and older. The incidence among women was three times higher than what investigators observed in men.
Stroke was the most common systemic complication followed by aortic involvement. Along with age, these factors increased a patient’s risk for mortality, according to Qiang. Ocular involvement was not a risk factor for mortality.
“To our knowledge this was the first nationwide study to report national incidence and demographics of GCA in the United States,” Qiang said. “We confirmed that older populations, both female and white, were a high-risk population for developing this disease.”
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Qiang K. Epidemiology of giant cell arteritis in the United States: A nationwide study from 2007-2016. Presented at: Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium; Aug. 26-29, 2021; Amelia Island, Florida.
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