Clinical analysis of gender and pre-existing diabetes mellitus in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica: A retrospective study in a Japanese population

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective This study clarifies the involvement of gender and pre-existing diabetes mellitus (DM) in the clinical characteristics of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Methods The clinical records of patients diagnosed with PMR in our department between January 2011 and June 2021, especially in terms of gender and DM were retrospectively analysed. Results We identified 89 patients with the median age of 75.37 cases were men and 52 cases were women. Pre-existing DM was found in 21 patients (23.6%). Male PMR patients exhibited a higher complication rate of pre-existing DM and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels at diagnosis (p = .04 and p < .01, respectively) than female patients, and men were more common in the patient group with pre-existing DM (p = .04). The CRP levels of male PMR patients without pre-existing DM were higher than female PMR patients without pre-existing DM. Conclusion Male PMR patients might have a varying pathophysiology from female patients in terms of high inflammation levels accompanied by a high prevalence rate of pre-existing DM and need a gender-specific approach.