Mortality in isolated polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis is not increased: evidence from cohort data

A recent study published in Arthritis Research and Therapy by Tengesdal et al. reported that patients with isolated polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA) do not have increased all-cause mortality compared with the general population. Regarding this, we present data from our own previous investigation in northwest Spain, which also showed no increased mortality in 185 patients with PMR or 109 patients with biopsy-confirmed GCA. In this regard, in the northwest Spanish GCA group, mortality was primarily due to cardiovascular causes and was comparable to that of the general population. These findings support the conclusion that neither PMR nor GCA significantly affects life expectancy when appropriately diagnosed and treated.