Department of Ophthalmology, Roski Eye Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA.
Department of Statistics and Bio Statistics, California State University East Bay, Hayward, CA, USA.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2019 Mar-Apr;37 Suppl 117(2):90-97. Epub 2019 Jan 7.
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a vasculitis that affects large and medium sized arteries. The aetiology of GCA is unknown and numerous risk factors have been proposed. In this article, we evaluate the incidence of biopsy-positive GCA in Northern California and assess for seasonal variation.
We performed a retrospective review based on billing codes of temporal artery biopsies performed at the University of California, Davis from 2003 to 2014.
We identified 174 biopsies (119 female, 55 male). Of these, 21 positive biopsies were female while 8 were male. Although three times as many women had a positive biopsy compared to men, twice as many biopsies were performed on women. Women were not found to have a significantly higher risk of developing GCA over men. Patients with a positive biopsy averaged 76.4±8.9 years of age. The odds of having a positive biopsy increased significantly with age. Positive biopsies were significantly more likely to occur in the months of May through July than the rest of the year (p<0.028).
Our retrospective study is the first report of the seasonal incidence of biopsy-proven GCA in California. Our data suggest that increased age and summer months are risk factors for developing biopsy-proven GCA in our region.
巨细胞动脉炎（GCA）是一种影响大动脉和中动脉的血管炎。GCA 的病因尚不清楚，提出了许多危险因素。在本文中，我们评估了北加利福尼亚活检阳性 GCA 的发病率，并评估了季节性变化。
我们根据加利福尼亚大学戴维斯分校 2003 年至 2014 年进行的颞动脉活检的计费代码进行了回顾性研究。
我们确定了 174 例活检（119 例女性，55 例男性）。其中，21 例女性活检阳性，8 例男性活检阳性。尽管女性活检阳性的人数是男性的三倍，但女性进行的活检数量却是男性的两倍。未发现女性患 GCA 的风险明显高于男性。活检阳性患者的平均年龄为 76.4±8.9 岁。随着年龄的增长，活检阳性的几率显著增加。阳性活检更有可能发生在 5 月至 7 月的几个月中，而不是一年中的其他时间（p<0.028）。
我们的回顾性研究是加利福尼亚州活检阳性 GCA 季节性发病率的首次报告。我们的数据表明，年龄增加和夏季是我们地区活检阳性 GCA 发展的危险因素。
