[Giant cell arteritis and vision complications. Illustrated by a 3-year study from hospitals in the county of Frederiksborg].

During the three-year period 1986-1988, 95 patients were referred to the county eye department on account of suspected giant cell arteritis (GCA = temporal arteritis/polymyalgia rheumatica). Among the 51 with GCA, nine had visual loss. Bilateral blindness occurred in one patient. Temporal artery biopsy was positive in 18 patients. Malignancies were found in two of the 44 patients in whom the GCA diagnosis was subsequently rejected. In the somatic hospitals of the county, a total of 263 GCA patients could be collected during the sampling period. Requests to the primary health service ophthalmologists revealed one further case with marked visual loss. A total of ten out of 264 patients visual loss associated with GCA denotes a lower ocular risk than traditionally presumed. The result is in agreement with previous Danish and Nordic investigations. Probably the low visual risk is related to a high diagnostic rate of GCA, given here by an annual hospital based incidence in the county of 1 per 1,000 of age 50+. Considering the number of cases diagnosed and treated outside hospital, the real incidence is even higher. Regarding visual loss, however, we feel that all known cases with serious reduction of sight due to recognized GCA have been included.