Objectives
ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) can affect all age groups. We aimed to show that differences in disease presentation and 6 month outcome between younger- and older-onset patients are still incompletely understood.
Methods
We included patients enrolled in the Diagnostic and Classification Criteria for Primary Systemic Vasculitis (DCVAS) study between October 2010 and January 2017 with a diagnosis of AAV. We divided the population according to age at diagnosis: <65 years or ≥65 years. We adjusted associations for the type of AAV and the type of ANCA (anti-MPO, anti-PR3 or negative).
Results
A total of 1338 patients with AAV were included: 66% had disease onset at <65 years of age [female 50%; mean age 48.4 years (s.d. 12.6)] and 34% had disease onset at ≥65 years [female 54%; mean age 73.6 years (s.d. 6)]. ANCA (MPO) positivity was more frequent in the older group (48% vs 27%; P = 0.001). Younger patients had higher rates of musculoskeletal, cutaneous and ENT manifestations compared with older patients. Systemic, neurologic,cardiovascular involvement and worsening renal function were more frequent in the older-onset group. Damage accrual, measured with the Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI), was significantly higher in older patients, 12% of whom had a 6 month VDI ≥5, compared with 7% of younger patients (P = 0.01). Older age was an independent risk factor for early death within 6 months from diagnosis [hazard ratio 2.06 (95% CI 1.07, 3.97); P = 0.03].
Conclusion
Within 6 months of diagnosis of AAV, patients >65 years of age display a different pattern of organ involvement and an increased risk of significant damage and mortality compared with younger patients.
We present a case of a 57-year-old woman suffering from granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), who in the seventh months of immunosuppressive treatment (cyclophosphamide) progressed with new pulmonary changes and perforations of the hard palate and bronchi. Rituximab was introduced resulting in B-cell depletion and disappearance of anti-PR3 antibody. Palatal holes have substantially diminished and all bronchial perforations disappeared, covered by fibrous tissue. In the fourth month after rituximab administration, large scarring obstruction of the right main bronchus with upper and middle lobes atelectasis emerged. Because of increasing dyspnoea, stenotic bronchus was re-opened by bronchoscopy. Intervention was complicated by bilateral pneumothorax and later, on the seventh day, by fatal pulmonary bleeding. To our knowledge, this is the first report of GPA refractory to cyclophosphamide complicated by palatal and bronchial perforations.
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