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Recommendations for Early Referral of Individuals with Suspected Polymyalgia Rheumatica: an Initiative from the International Giant Cell Arteritis and Polymyalgia Rheumatica Study Group by Kresten Krarup Keller; Chetan B Mukhtyar; Andreas Wiggers Nielsen; Andrea Katharina Hemmig; Sarah Louise Mackie; Sebastian Eduardo Sattui; Ellen-Margrethe Hauge; Anisha Dua; Toby Helliwell; Lorna Neill; Daniel Blockmans; Valérie Devauchelle-Pensec; Eric Hayes; Annett Jansen Venneboer; Sara Monti; Cristina Ponte; Eugenio De Miguel; Mark Matza; Kenneth J Warrington; Kevin Byram; Kinanah Yaseen; Christine Peoples; Michael Putman; Lindsay Lally; Michael Finikiotis; Simone Appenzeller; Ugo Caramori; Carlos Enrique Toro-Gutiérrez; Elisabeth Backhouse; María Camila Guerrero Oviedo; Victor Román Pimentel-Quiroz; Helen Isobel Keen; Claire Elizabeth Owen; Thomas Daikeler; Annette de Thurah; Wolfgang A Schmidt; Elisabeth Brouwer; Christian Dejaco is a Medicine article available to read on EtoBox.

## Objective To develop international consensus-based recommendations for early referral of individuals with suspected polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). ## Methods A task force including 29 rheumatologists/internists, 4 general practitioners, 4 patients and a healthcare professional emerged from the international giant cell arteritis and PMR study group. The task force supplied clinical questions, subsequently transformed into Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome format. A systematic literature review was conducted followed by online meetings to formulate and vote on final recommendations. Levels of evidence (LOE) (1–5 scale) and agreement (LOA) (0–10 scale) were evaluated. ## Results Two overarching principles and five recommendations were developed. LOE was 4–5 and LOA ranged between 8.5 and 9.7. The recommendations suggest that (1) each individual with suspected or recently diagnosed PMR should be considered for specialist evaluation, (2) before referring an individual with suspected PMR to specialist care, a thorough history and clinical examination should be performed and preferably complemented with urgent basic laboratory investigations, (3) individuals with suspected P

Author

Kresten Krarup Keller; Chetan B Mukhtyar; Andreas Wiggers Nielsen; Andrea Katharina Hemmig; Sarah Louise Mackie; Sebastian Eduardo Sattui; Ellen-Margrethe Hauge; Anisha Dua; Toby Helliwell; Lorna Neill; Daniel Blockmans; Valérie Devauchelle-Pensec; Eric Hayes; Annett Jansen Venneboer; Sara Monti; Cristina Ponte; Eugenio De Miguel; Mark Matza; Kenneth J Warrington; Kevin Byram; Kinanah Yaseen; Christine Peoples; Michael Putman; Lindsay Lally; Michael Finikiotis; Simone Appenzeller; Ugo Caramori; Carlos Enrique Toro-Gutiérrez; Elisabeth Backhouse; María Camila Guerrero Oviedo; Victor Román Pimentel-Quiroz; Helen Isobel Keen; Claire Elizabeth Owen; Thomas Daikeler; Annette de Thurah; Wolfgang A Schmidt; Elisabeth Brouwer; Christian Dejaco

Publisher

BMJ

Published

2023

Language

EN

Field

Medicine (Health Sciences)