Ultrasound of shoulder and knee improves the accuracy of the 2012 EULAR/ACR provisional classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies suggest that the knee is frequently involved in PMR. In this study, we aimed to determine whether the US assessment of the shoulder and knee discriminates between PMR and other differential diagnoses and improves the accuracy of the 2012 EULAR/ACR provisional classification criteria for PMR. METHODS: We consecutively enrolled 81 untreated patients who received a diagnosis of PMR. These patients were divided into two groups based on the final diagnosis made at 1-year follow-up: PMR-definite group (n = 60) and PMR-mimic group (n = 21). We also enrolled age/sex-matched untreated RA patients with shoulder pain from an independent cohort (RA group, n = 60). All patients underwent comprehensive US assessment of the shoulder and knee for synovitis, bursitis, tenosynovitis, tendinitis and ligament inflammation at baseline. RESULTS: US scores for tenosynovitis, tendinitis and ligament inflammation better discriminated the PMR-definite group from the PMR-mimic and RA groups than do those for synovitis or bursitis. Among logistic regression models to identify US variables that were associated with the PMR-definite group, the best fitted model included two US variables: the bilateral involvement of the shoulder (long head of biceps, supraspinatus or subscapularis tendon) and the bilateral involvement of the knee (popliteus tendon or medial or lateral collateral ligament). Incorporating these two items into the 2012 EULAR/ACR provisional classification criteria numerically increased the accuracy to classify the PMR-definite group. CONCLUSION: US assessment of the tendon/ligament-related lesions in the shoulder and knee may improve the accuracy of the 2012 EULAR/ACR provisional classification criteria for PMR.

Perspectives and unmet needs in polymyalgia rheumatica. Providing the fundamental framework for the development of new treatment regimes in polymyalgia rheumatica.

Polymyalgia rheumatica is effectively treated with glucocorticoids. However, glucocorticoid treatment can cause numerous and potentially serious side effects. Therefore, lowest effective dose and shortest duration to control disease is aimed for and glucocorticoid-sparing treatments are needed. Nevertheless, development of treatment regimens in PMR has been hampered by the lack of reliable classification criteria and evidence-based outcome measures. In this editorial, we discuss the need for valid classification criteria in PMR, the strengths and limitations of the ACR/EULAR 2012 provisional classification criteria for PMR and the need of validation and possible refining of the criteria.

Contribution of the new 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for the diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica.

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is one of the most common rheumatic inflammatory disorders in people aged over 50. It is characterized by aching and prolonged morning stiffness in the shoulder and pelvic girdles and neck. To date there are no specific diagnostic tests, and in clinical practice the diagnosis of PMR remains based on its characteristic clinical manifestations, laboratory evidence of systemic inflammation, rapid response to low doses of glucocorticoids and exclusion of other disorders that may present with proximal pain and stiffness. For classification purposes, several criteria have been proposed over time based on retrospective clinical series, but none have been validated and received universal acceptance. Recently, an international collaborative initiative between the EULAR and the ACR was undertaken to develop new polymyalgia rheumatica classification criteria. In this review, the provisional 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria will be presented and their contribution for the diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica will be discussed.

[Polymyalgia rheumatica update, 2015]. / Polymyalgia rheumatica update, 2015.

Polymyalgia rheumatica is an inflammatory musculoskeletal disorder of people aged 50 years or over, characterised by pain, aching and morning stiffness in the shoulder girdle and often hip girdle and neck. Marked systemic inflammation and rapid response to corticosteroid therapy are characteristic features. Giant cell arteritis is a well-known association of polymyalgia rheumatica. Recent clinical evidence and scientific results in the field have provided new challenges for rheumatologists. Besides the aspecific - although characteristic - proximal syndrome, less well recognizable and more variable distal musculoskeletal manifestations were observed. Magnetic resonance and ultrasound studies showed mild, remitting and non-erosive synovitis, with dominating inflammation of the extraarticular synovial structures. As no pathognostic sign is known, the diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica is based on its differential diagnosis, differentiation from the polymyalgia mimics; particularly from elderly onset inflammatory arthritides, such as elderly onset rheumatoid arthritis and late onset seronegative spondylarthritis. In 2012 the international polymyalgia rheumatica work group under the guidance of the American College of Rheumatology and European League Against Rheumatism elaborated new classification criteria, the scoring algorythm of which is based on clinical symptoms, with ultrasonography increasing the specificity. Corticosteroids remain the cornerstone of the therapy of polymyalgia rheumatica. No effective steroid-sparing drug has been found to date. Corticosteroids are generally needed for 1-1.5 years, though some patients have a chronic-relapsing course and require corticosteroids for several years. Well known corticosteroid-related side effects (diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and osteoporosis) cause significant morbidity and economic burden on the society. Novel therapeautic approaches are on trial. Early recognition of the disease, early start of corticosteroids and a well-defined course, prevention and management of side effects are everyday tasks for rheumatologists and family doctors. Knowledge of polymyalgia rheumatica is essential for all medical specialties.

Polymyalgia rheumatica: strategies for efficient practice and quality assurance.

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is the most common inflammatory rheumatic disease in persons over the age of 50 years. There are many diseases which mimic PMR, for which reason a careful diagnostic approach is required. While it is thought to be exquisitely responsive to glucocorticosteroid therapy, many patients respond incompletely and/or develop serious side effects over the protracted disease course. Improved methods for classification and disease assessment together with standardized treatment approaches and outcome assessments can serve to improve the care of patients with this disease.

The diagnosis and classification of giant cell arteritis.

Giant-cell arteritis (GCA) involves the major branches of the aorta with predilection for the extracranial branches of the carotid artery. It occurs in individuals older than 50 years and the incidence increases with age. The signs and symptoms of giant cell arteritis can be classified into four subsets: cranial arteritis, extracranial arteritis, systemic symptoms and polymyalgia rheumatica. Patients may develop any combination of these manifestations, associated with laboratory evidence of an acute-phase reaction. The only test that confirms GCA diagnosis is a temporal artery biopsy, showing vasculitis with mononuclear cell inflammatory infiltrates, often with giant cells. Due to the focal and segmental nature of the infiltrates, areas of inflammation may be missed by the biopsy and the histological examination is normal in about 15% of the cases. Some imaging modalities may aid in the diagnosis of GCA. Among those, color duplex ultrasonography of the temporal arteries is more commonly used. There are no independent validating criteria to determine whether giant cell arteritis is present when a temporal artery biopsy is negative. The American College of Rheumatology criteria for the classification of giant cell arteritis may assist in the diagnosis. However, meeting classification criteria is not equivalent to making the diagnosis in individual patients, and the final diagnosis should be based on all clinical, laboratory, imaging and histological findings. Glucocorticoids are the treatment of choice for GCA. The initial dose is 40-60 mg/day for most uncomplicated cases. Addition of low-dose aspirin (100 mg/d) has been shown to significantly decrease the rate of vision loss and stroke during the course of the disease.

Polymyalgia rheumatica--diagnosis and classification.

Polymyalgia rheumatica is the most common inflammatory rheumatic disease of the elderly, and shares many pathogenetic and epidemiological features with giant cell arteritis. The typical symptoms are bilateral aching of the shoulder girdle, associated with morning stiffness. The neck and hip girdle may also be involved. The diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica is made primarily on clinical grounds. There is no single diagnostic test, but sets of diagnostic or classification criteria have been suggested by several groups of investigators, based on the typical clinical presentation and laboratory evidence of acute-phase reaction. Other conditions that may mimic polymyalgia rheumatic, such as elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis, must be excluded by appropriate testing and close monitoring of the disease course. Glucocorticoids at low doses (15-20 mg prednisone per day initially) are the mainstay of treatment.

2012 Provisional classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica: a European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology collaborative initiative.

The objective of this study was to develop European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Candidate criteria were evaluated in a 6-month prospective cohort study of 125 patients with new-onset PMR and 169 non-PMR comparison subjects with conditions mimicking PMR. A scoring algorithm was developed based on morning stiffness >45 minutes (2 points), hip pain/limited range of motion (1 point), absence of rheumatoid factor and/or anti-citrullinated protein antibody (2 points), and absence of peripheral joint pain (1 point). A score ≥4 had 68% sensitivity and 78% specificity for discriminating all comparison subjects from PMR. The specificity was higher (88%) for discriminating shoulder conditions from PMR and lower (65%) for discriminating RA from PMR. Adding ultrasound, a score ≥5 had increased sensitivity to 66% and specificity to 81%. According to these provisional classification criteria, patients ≥50 years old presenting with bilateral shoulder pain, not better explained by an alternative pathology, can be classified as having PMR in the presence of morning stiffness >45 minutes, elevated C-reactive protein and/or erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and new hip pain. These criteria are not meant for diagnostic purposes.

Diagnostic performance of the 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica in Korean patients.

AIM: This prospective study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the 2012 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) compared to that of previous classification/diagnostic criteria in the Korean population. METHOD: We consecutively included 77 patients aged ≥50 years presenting with bilateral shoulder pain and elevated acute-phase reactants. All patients were evaluated for fulfillment of each of the 5 different criteria for PMR (Chuang et al, Bird, Jones and Hazleman, Healey, and the EULAR/ACR criteria). At baseline, bilateral ultrasound (US) examinations of the shoulders and hips were performed. Final diagnosis was made by an experienced rheumatologist at the 12-month follow-up. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity of criteria sets were assessed. RESULTS: At the end of follow-up, 38 and 39 patients were diagnosed with PMR and non-PMR including rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n = 20), respectively. The EULAR/ACR classification criteria with US showed the best discriminating capacity (AUC 0.843). Adding US to EULAR/ACR criteria increased specificity from 74.4% to 89.7%, but decreased sensitivity from 89.5% to 78.9%. The two US items of the EULAR/ACR criteria were significantly more frequent in patients with PMR than in controls. However, the second criterion consisting of both shoulders inflamed were similar between PMR (60.5%) and RA (60.0%) groups. CONCLUSION: The 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for PMR performed best in classifying PMR from other inflammatory and non-inflammatory disorders with shoulder pain in Asian populations.

Application of 2012 EULAR/ACR criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica to Korean patients previously classified by Chuang and Hunder criteria or Healey criteria.

AIM: To apply 2012 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology (EULAR/ACR) criteria to Korean patients previously classified as polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) by Chuang and Hunder criteria or Healey criteria and investigated whether they might be still reclassified as PMR or not. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 113 previously classified PMR patients. We applied 2012 EULAR/ACR criteria without ultrasonography to PMR patients, and fulfilment required at least 4 points. We evaluated odds ratios (OR) using logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The mean age was 61.7 years. Seventy-one patients (62.8%) fulfilled Chuang and Hunder criteria, and 113 patients (100%) met Healey criteria. When we applied 2012 EULAR/ACR criteria, 98 patients fulfilled essential items (≥50 years, bilateral shoulder aching and abnormal C-reactive protein or erythrocyte sedimentation rate), and only 80 patients achieved points ≥4. Eight patients fulfilling the criteria exhibited higher frequencies of all the detailed items than those who did not. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, absence of rheumatoid factor or anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies was the only independent contributing item to the fulfilment of 2012 EULAR/ACR criteria (OR 23.571, 95% CI 6.357-87.407, P < .001). When we reclassified 33 excluded patients, the most common newly classified disease was generalized osteoarthritis (24.2%), followed by osteoporosis with compression fracture (15.2%). CONCLUSION: Eighty of 113 patients (81.6%) previously classified by Chuang and Hunder criteria or Healey criteria fulfilled 2012 EULAR/ACR criteria for PMR.

Assessment of 2012 EULAR/ACR new classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica in Japanese patients diagnosed using Bird's criteria.

AIM: The 2012 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) were published in 2012. The present study aimed to assess the 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for PMR in Japanese patients diagnosed with PMR using Bird's criteria. METHODS: The study included 75 patients diagnosed using Bird's criteria. The patients were divided into fulfilled and not-fulfilled groups according to whether they met the 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for PMR. The factors in the new criteria were morning stiffness duration > 45 min, hip pain or limited range of motion, absence of rheumatoid factor or anti-citrullinated protein antibody, and absence of other joint involvement. RESULTS: Thirty-two of the patients diagnosed with PMR using Bird's criteria met the new EULAR/ACR classification criteria, while the remaining 43 patients did not meet the new criteria. Among the factors, only morning stiffness duration > 45 min was an independent predictive factor. CONCLUSIONS: A morning stiffness duration > 45 min is the only independent predictive factor for differentiating patients diagnosed according to the new 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for PMR.

Assessment of the New 2012 EULAR/ACR Clinical Classification Criteria for Polymyalgia Rheumatica: A Prospective Multicenter Study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of the new 2012 provisional European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) clinical classification criteria in discriminating PMR from other mimicking conditions compared with the previous 5 diagnostic criteria in a multicenter prospective study. METHODS: Patients older than 50 years, presenting with new-onset bilateral shoulder pain with elevated acute-phase reactants (APR), were assessed for the fulfillment of the new and old classification/diagnostic criteria sets for PMR. At the end of the 1-year followup, 133 patients were diagnosed with PMR (expert opinion) and 142 with non-PMR conditions [69 rheumatoid arthritis (RA)]. Discriminating capacity, sensitivity, and specificity of the criteria sets were estimated. RESULTS: Discriminating capacity of the new clinical criteria for PMR from non-PMR conditions and RA as estimated by area under the curve (AUC) were good with AUC of 0.736 and 0.781, respectively. The new criteria had a sensitivity of 89.5% and a specificity of 57.7% when tested against all non-PMR cases. When tested against all RA, seropositive RA, seronegative RA, and non-RA control patients, specificity changed to 66.7%, 100%, 20.7%, and 49.3%, respectively. Except for the Bird criteria, the 4 previous criteria had lower sensitivity and higher specificity (ranging from 83%-93%) compared with the new clinical criteria in discriminating PMR from all other controls. CONCLUSION: The new 2012 EULAR/ACR clinical classification criteria for PMR is highly sensitive; however, its ability to discriminate PMR from other inflammatory/noninflammatory shoulder conditions, especially from seronegative RA, is not adequate. Imaging and other modifications such as cutoff values for APR might increase the specificity of the criteria.

Temporal arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica: nosographic and nosologic considerations.

Original reports on temporal arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica were reviewed before and after the introduction of steroid therapy to prevent blindness in temporal arteritis. In some cases, the original data were reworked. There is evidence that both diseases have become more benign. As a result, the perceived risk of blindness is presently overestimated, as is the perceived benefit of steroids in reducing this risk, and neither should be used as support for an essential difference between temporal arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica. Indeed, no qualitative differences otherwise exist and both are best viewed as facets of a common disease spectrum with variable risk of adverse outcome. Some of the difficulties in dealing with diseases characterized by variable risk within present dichotomous classifications are discussed. It is likely that in many patients benign disease is presently undiagnosed. It is likely that certain classifications of temporal arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica now in use lead to an overtreatment of some patients with relatively benign disease.

Classification/diagnostic criteria for GCA/PMR.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) are two common rheumatic diseases occurring in middle-aged and older persons. Their cause is unknown and in neither is there a single specific diagnostic test. As a result a combination of findings is needed for their diagnosis. The American College of Rheumatology has established criteria for the classification of GCA using two methods. These criteria are best used in research studies involving patients with a diagnosis of vasculitis. One method is based on the so-called traditional format. In this method the patient with vasculitis is classified as GCA if he/she manifests any 3 among the list of 5 criteria selected. The second method, the tree format or recursive partitioning method, starts with the clinical finding that best separates patients with GCA from others with vasculitis and then uses other criteria successively to point to a final decision regarding the presence or absence of GCA. Diagnostic criteria for GCA have not been formulated. Diagnostic criteria have been established for PMR by analysis of a series of patients, but in practice most rheumatologists use criteria established informally by consensus.

[Polymyalgia rheumatica: a systemic vasculitis. Review of the literature and presentation of 2 clinical cases]. / Polimialgia reumatica: una vasculite sistemica. Revisione della letteratura e presentazione di due casi clinici.

A brief historical account of the nosological and pathogenetic classification of rheumatic polymyalgia (RPM) is followed by an indication of the importance of vasculitis during its course. Elective involvement of the temporal artery is not always observed, though there may also, or exclusively, be involvement of other arterial districts, such as those of the subaxillary and subclavicular, that of the thoracic and abdominal aorta, and of the large branches of the lower limbs. Two clinical cases are presented in support of these assertions. It is also shown that arteritis may appear several months after the onset of RPM, and that its progress may be quite separate from that of the latter. Doppler examination is now of assistance in the diagnosis of these forms, since it permits exploration of the various districts and the detection of subclinical lesions. It is also useful in the monitoring of arteritis and its response to treatment.

Joint involvement in patients with early polymyalgia rheumatica using high-resolution ultrasound and its contribution to the EULAR/ACR 2012 classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica.

OBJECTIVE: To assess joint involvement and the contribution of musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) to the novel European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology (EULAR/ACR) 2012 classification criteria in patients with polymyalgia rheumatic (PMR). METHODS: MSUS was performed in 54 consecutive patients with recent-onset PMR. RESULTS: Biceps tenosynovitis of at least 1 shoulder has been observed in 70.4% of patients, and 64.8% had a bilateral biceps tenosynovitis. Subdeltoid bursitis (27.8% unilateral, 5.6% bilateral), glenohumeral synovitis (22.2% unilateral, 9.3% bilateral), and hip involvement (22.2% unilateral, 16.7% bilateral) were observed less frequently. The sensitivities of the classification criteria were 85.2% for EULAR/ACR without MSUS and 81.5% for EULAR/ACR with MSUS. CONCLUSION: The most common MSUS pathology was a biceps tenosynovitis. However, US findings had no effect on the sensitivity of the novel EULAR/ACR criteria for PMR.