Relapses and long-term remission in large vessel giant cell arteritis in northern Italy: Characteristics and predictors in a long-term follow-up study.

Abstract Objective To evaluate characteristics and predictors of relapses and long-term remission in an Italian cohort of patients with large-vessel (LV) giant cell arteritis (GCA). Methods We evaluated 87 consecutive patients with LV-GCA followed up at the Rheumatology Unit of Reggio Emilia Hospital (Italy) for at least 2 years. Patients with relapses and long-term remission were compared to those without. A group of 34 patients with biopsy proven GCA without LV vasculitis (LVV) at diagnosis was considered for comparison. Patients 37 patients (42.5%) experienced one or more relapses. Nineteen (37.2%) of the 51 relapses were experienced during the first year after diagnosis. The majority of relapses occurred with doses of prednisone (PDN) ≤ 10 mg/day (74.5%). Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) (41.2%) and worsening at imaging of LVV (39.2%) were the most frequently observed relapsing manifestations. The total cumulative prednisone dose was significantly higher (p Conclusion In our cohort of patients with LV GCA we identified predictors of a relapsing course and long-term remission, which were observed in around half of the patients.