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The impact of month and season on the incidence of giant cell arteritis: an Intelligent Research in Sight (IRIS) Registry analysis

  • Neurophthalmology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Previous investigations into the relationship between season and the incidence of giant cell arteritis (GCA) have produced conflicting results. This study aimed to explore the impact of season and new diagnoses of GCA in a more definitive sense by employing the large dataset of the Intelligent Research in Sight (IRIS) database.

Methods

The IRIS Registry was queried to identify new cases of GCA from 2013 to 2021. Statistical analyses were performed to determine the significance of the relationship between the time of year and the incidence of GCA on regional and nationwide bases via Cochran’s Q statistical test.

Results

A total of 27,339 eyes with a new diagnosis of GCA were identified. Neither the month nor the season of the year correlated with the incidence of GCA, regardless of geographic location within the USA (p > 0.05 for each variable).

Conclusions

In the USA, the incidence of GCA does not appear to vary by month or season. While this finding contradicts certain previous studies that identified a relationship, the cohort of patients identified from the IRIS Registry is much larger than that of previous investigations. Clinicians should be mindful of the possibility of GCA, regardless of the time of the year.

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Funding

This research was supported by a very generous grant from the H. Dunbar Hoskins, Jr., MD, Center for Quality Eye Care IRIS Registry Research Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lions Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, USA

    Edward J. Wladis

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, USA

    Edward J. Wladis

  3. Department of Emergency Medicine, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, USA

    Ashar Ata, Michael J. Waxman & Denis R. Pauze

  4. American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Charles Li, Xuan Peng & Flora Lum

Authors
  1. Edward J. Wladis
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  2. Ashar Ata
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  3. Charles Li
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  4. Xuan Peng
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  5. Michael J. Waxman
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  6. Denis R. Pauze
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  7. Flora Lum
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Contributions

All authors were involved in drafting and revising the article, and all authors approved the final version to be published. EJW had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity and the accuracy of the data.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward J. Wladis.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This was a study utilizing a publicly available, national database. The IRB of Albany Medical College determined that our study did not need ethical approval. An IRB official waiver of ethical approval was granted from the IRB of Albany Medical College.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wladis, E.J., Ata, A., Li, C. et al. The impact of month and season on the incidence of giant cell arteritis: an Intelligent Research in Sight (IRIS) Registry analysis. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 262, 609–614 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-023-06268-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-023-06268-x

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