Nationwide Incidence of Anti Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA) Associated Vasculitis in Iceland

Þórunn Bjarnadóttir¹, Árni Jón Geirsson², Kristján Steinsson³, Jóhannes Björnsson⁴, Gunnar Tomasson⁵ and Björn Rúnar Lúdvíksson^6,7, ¹Landspitali University Hosptital, Reykjavík, Iceland, ²Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, Landspitali - The National University Hospital of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, ³Rheumatology, Univ. Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland, ⁴Department of Pathology, Akureyri Hospital, Akureyri, Iceland, ⁵Rheumatology Section, Boston University, Boston, MA, ⁶Department of Immunology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, ⁷Landspitali University Hosptital, Reykjavik, Iceland

Meeting: 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Date of first publication: September 29, 2015

Keywords: ANCA and vasculitis

Session Information

Date: Sunday, November 8, 2015

Title: Vasculitis Poster I

Session Type: ACR Poster Session A

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose: The Icelandic population is geographically isolated, genetically homogenous and with distinct environmental exposures. Deviations in disease occurrence compared to other Western countries might provide clues with respect to etiology of disease. ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a collective term for three rare small vessel vasculitides: Granulomatosis with Polyangiits (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and eosinophilic granulomtosis with polyangiitis (EGPA). The objective was to assess the incidence of AAV in the Icelandic Population.

Methods: Data from the Landspitali University Hospital and Akureyri Regional Hospital were used. Together, these hospitals provide care within the specialities of rheumatology, nephrology and immunology for the entire Icelandic population. The electronic medical records at those hospitals were search for ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnoses corresponding to AAV from 1996-2006. Individual patient records were pulled for review. Final determination of AAV status was made if information in the patient record guided fulfilled the ACR classification criteria or the Chapel Hill nomenclature for systemic vasculitis. Information age, sex, ANCA measurements and organ involvement were obtained from the medical record. Numerical information on the size of the Icelandic population were obtained from the National Statistics Office. Incidence rate of AAV is expressed as number of new cases of AAV per million person-years of the Icelandic population during the study period.

Results: During the study period, 32 individual were diagnosed with AAV, an IR=10.30 (95% CI 6.7-13.9). Most subjects had GPA (N=20, IR=6.44(95%CI 2.9-10.0)) and 6 subjects had MPA and EGPA respectively. Mean age of patients was 54.7 years (range 20-87) and 20 (62.5%) of patients were women. Among patients with GPA, 65% had PR3-ANCA and 15% had MPO-ANCA. Among patients with MPA, 83% had MPO-ANCA and among patients with EGPA, 50% had MPO-ANCA.

Conclusion: The incidence of AAV is lower in Iceland that in most other Northern-European countries with an uneven female:male ratio. Prevalence and specificity of ANCA is similar as in other cohorts.

Disclosure: Bjarnadóttir, None; J. Geirsson, None; K. Steinsson, None; J. Björnsson, None; G. Tomasson, None; B. R. Lúdvíksson, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Bjarnadóttir , Geirsson J, Steinsson K, Björnsson J, Tomasson G, Lúdvíksson BR. Nationwide Incidence of Anti Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA) Associated Vasculitis in Iceland [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/nationwide-incidence-of-anti-neutrophil-cytoplasmic-antibody-anca-associated-vasculitis-in-iceland/. Accessed .

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