Risk of cancer in patients with biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis

• Published in: Rheumatology (Oxford, England) Vol. 49; no. 4; pp. 756 - 759
• Main Authors: Hill, Catherine L., Cole, Antonia, Rischmueller, Maureen, Dodd, Thomas, Coleman, Mark, Tucker, Graeme, Roberts-Thomson, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.04.2010
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biopsy; Cohort Studies; Epidemiology; Female; Giant cell arteritis; Giant Cell Arteritis - complications; Giant Cell Arteritis - epidemiology; Humans; Male; Malignancy; Neoplasms - complications; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Population; Predictive Value of Tests; Risk Factors; South Australia - epidemiology; South Australia
• ISSN: 1462-0324; 1462-0332; 1462-0332
• DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/kep409

Objective. Results of previous studies investigating the association between GCA and malignancy are conflicting. We performed a study of the risk of cancer in patients with biopsy-proven GCA. Methods. Patients with biopsy-proven GCA were identified from pathology reports of temporal artery biopsies from the major pathology laboratories in South Australia (SA). All subjects with biopsy-proven GCA were linked to the SA Cancer Registry to identify cases of cancer until 31 December 2006. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for cancer were determined using the age- and gender-specific rates for SA. Results. There were 226 cases of biopsy-proven GCA (163 females and 63 males). Thirty-one cases were diagnosed with cancer, following the diagnosis of biopsy-proven GCA. There was no increased risk of cancer among those with biopsy-proven GCA, following the diagnosis of GCA compared with the general population (SIR 1.2; 95% CI 0.8, 1.6). Conclusion. This cohort study did not demonstrate any increased risk for malignancy in subjects with biopsy-proven GCA.