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What could a new disease activity score for polymyalgia rheumatica do better?

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 17, page 185 (2021)Cite this article

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In their Review on monitoring and long-term management of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) (Camellino, D., Matteson, E. L., Buttgereit, F. & Dejaco, C. Monitoring and long-term management of giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica. Nat. Rev. Rheumatol. 16, 481–495 (2020))1, Camellino et al. considered the need for a new disease activity score for PMR, concluding that the established Polymyalgia Rheumatica Activity Score (PMR-AS) is seldom used in clinical practice or in clinical trials. To date, the publication in which the PMR-AS was first proposed2 has been cited 138 times according to Google Scholar, 13 of which were in 2020, which gives testimony to its acceptance and implementation in scientific rheumatology.

The PMR-AS was originally derived from the EULAR response criteria for PMR3. Pain was recognized as such an important feature that it was chosen as the only parameter that had to decrease obligatorily in the PMR-AS, whereas at least three of the other four features, namely the physician’s global assessment (PGA), C-reactive protein (CRP) level or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), upper limb elevation and morning stiffness, had to improve.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Clinic for Internal Medicine - Rheumatology, St. Poelten, Austria

    Burkhard F. Leeb

  2. Karl Landsteiner Institute for Clinical Rheumatology, Hollabrunn, Austria

    Burkhard F. Leeb

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  1. Burkhard F. Leeb
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Correspondence to Burkhard F. Leeb.

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Leeb, B.F. What could a new disease activity score for polymyalgia rheumatica do better?. Nat Rev Rheumatol 17, 185 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-020-00550-6

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