Giant cell arteritis among Hispanic Americans.

Abstract

To compare the prevalence and clinical course of giant cell arteritis (GCA) among Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients. Comparative case series. Two hundred fifty-seven consecutive patients who underwent temporal artery biopsy in our institution from 1996 to 2002 were studied. A prospective telephone survey was conducted to determine race and Hispanic origin separately by means of methodology of the US Census Bureau. One hundred thirty-four patients completed the interview, with 65 (49%) identifying themselves as Hispanic and 69 (51%) as non-Hispanic. Of the 32 respondents with biopsy-proven GCA, all identified themselves racially as white, and 13 (41%) were Hispanic and 19 (59%) were non-Hispanic (P = .32). Statistically significant differences in age, presenting symptoms, and final visual acuity were not observed among Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients with GCA. Although GCA has been reported to be rare in Hispanics, we found the prevalence and clinical course of GCA to be similar in Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients.