ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

Abstract Number: 60

Epidemiology of Polymyalgia Rheumatica in Korea

In young Kim1, Seulkee Lee1, Hemin Jeong1, Hyungjin Kim1, Jiwon Hwang1, Jaejoon Lee2, Eun-mi Koh1 and Hoon-Suk Cha1, 1Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea, 2Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

Meeting: 2014 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Keywords:

Session Information

Title: Epidemiology and Public Health: Osteoporosis, Non-Inflammatory Arthritis and More

Session Type: Abstract Submissions (ACR)

Background/Purpose

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting people older than 50 years. Diagnosis is made based on clinical features and the current standard of treatment is low-dose glucocorticoids. PMR is known to be more frequent in Caucasian ethnicity and females. But up to date, there has been a scant epidemiologic study of PMR in Asian countries including Korea. We aimed to estimate incidence and prevalence rates of PMR and current treatment state in Korea.

Methods

We performed nationwide retrospective review of PMR using the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) and Health Insurance Review and Assessment (HIRA) database from 2007 to 2012.  NHI is the sole public medical insurance system in Korea, which covers 100% of the Korean population and HIRA is a government incorporated organization to build an accurate claims review and quality assessment system for the NHI. We defined PMR cases by both diagnostic codes and medication codes simultaneously, in other words, by proper ICD code (M 35.3) and concurrent appropriate prescription codes (glucocorticoids).

Results

We identified total 1,463 newly diagnosed cases of PMR for the 5 years. The annual incidence rate of PMR per 100,000 Korean individuals was estimated as 2.06 (1.45 in male, 2.59 in female), and the prevalence rate was 8.21 per 100,000 individuals in 2012 (5.60 in male, 10.42 in female). Among the 1,463 cases, 992 (67.8%) were female and 471 (32.2%) were male and the median age at the time of diagnosis was 67 years old. The incidence rate according to age appeared to increase with advancing age peaking 70 years old, as similar as previous reports of western studies. The most frequently prescribed agent was prednisolone, and the starting daily dosage of glucocorticoids as prednisolone equivalent was between 5 to 15 mg daily in 74.5 % of the patients.

Conclusion

This is the first study that evaluated epidemiologic data of PMR in Korea, and included population was the largest among those of studies published in East Asia so far. The incidence and prevalence rates of PMR are estimated considerably lower than that of Western populations. And this result supports that both genetic and environmental factor would play important roles in pathogenesis of PMR.

Disclosure:

I. Y. Kim,
None;

S. Lee,
None;

H. Jeong,
None;

H. Kim,
None;

J. Hwang,
None;

J. Lee,
None;

E. M. Koh,
None;

H. S. Cha,
None.

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