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


CONCLUSIONS
This cohort study did not demonstrate any increased risk for malignancy in subjects with biopsy-proven GCA.
Hill
Catherine L
CL
Rheumatology Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville, Australia. catherine.hill@health.sa.gov.au
Cole
Antonia
A
Rischmueller
Maureen
M
Dodd
Thomas
T
Coleman
Mark
M
Tucker
Graeme
G
Roberts-Thomson
Peter
P
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology