Table 3.

Rate and rate ratio of selected comorbidities among 571 female patients with biopsy-proven GCA (cases) and 2284 reference subjects (reference) matched for age, sex, and date of diagnosis.

Comorbidity	GCA, n = 571	Cases, Person-yrs	Rate	Reference, n = 2284	Reference, Person-yrs	Rate	Rate Ratio	95% CI	p
Ischemic heart disease¹	94	3138	29.9	349	13,074	26.6	1.12	0.88–1.41	0.3
Cerebrovascular accidents¹	72	3242	22.2	238	13,591	17.5	1.27	0.96–1.65	0.1
Hypertension	312	2179	143	1092	10,041	108	1.32	1.16–1.49	< 0.001
Diabetes mellitus	94	3110	30.2	287	13,077	21.9	1.38	1.08–1.74	0.01
VTE¹	31	3358	9.23	65	14,079	4.62	2.00	1.26–3.09	0.009
Thyroid disease	114	2946	38.6	316	13,059	24.2	1.60	1.28–1.98	< 0.001
Dyslipoproteinemias	59	3256	18.1	245	13,480	18.1	1.00	0.74–1.33	0.9
Psychiatric diseases	237	2587	91.6	770	11,664	66.0	1.39	1.19–1.61	< 0.001
Osteoporosis	171	2719	62.8	293	13,209	22.1	2.83	2.33–3.43	< 0.001
Fractures	160	2778	57.5	445	12,632	35.2	1.63	1.36–1.96	< 0.001

↵1 Only inpatient diagnoses; all other diagnoses are for both inpatient and outpatient diagnoses. GCA: giant cell arteritis; VTE: venous thromboembolic diseases: pulmonary embolus and/or deep vein thrombosis.