Type 2 Diabetes and Higher BMI linked to Lower Risk of Giant Cell Arteritis: Study
A new study published in the journal of Rheumatology revealed that individuals with type 2 diabetes and higher body mass index (BMI) may have a reduced risk of developing giant cell arteritis (GCA). Specifically, the presence of type 2 diabetes was associated with a 25% lower risk, while a higher BMI correlated with a 36% lower risk of GCA.
Risk factors for giant cell arteritis (GCA) are not clearly characterized, with the exception of advanced age, female sex, and northern European ancestry. The relationship between GCA and conventional cardiovascular risk factors is not well understood. When GCA was linked to smoking, peripheral artery disease, and angina in 1989, it sparked a discussion concerning the connection between GCA and prevalent vascular disorders.
According to more recent research, smoking and GCA are related, and body mass index (BMI) and serum cholesterol have an inverse relationship with GCA. Therefore, by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational data, François Barde and team set out to analyzed the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and the beginning of GCA.
Medline, Web of Science, and Embase were the three databases that were thoroughly examined. Eligible were epidemiological studies that examined the relationship between the risk of GCA and six cardiovascular risk factors: smoking, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, overweight/obesity, and a history of cardiovascular disease. The ROBINS-E scale was used to measure the risk of bias.
Out of the 4210 references found by the search technique, 43 studies were examined, and 17 of them (11 case-control studies, 4 cohort studies, and 2 cross-sectional studies) were included in the meta-analysis.
Type 2 diabetes was shown to be negatively linked with GCA risk, while cardiovascular disease history was favorably associated with GCA risk. Furthermore, the study found that participants who were overweight had a trend toward a lower risk of GCA.
Overall, this study found that the risk of GCA was positively correlated with a history of cardiovascular disease and negatively correlated with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, a tendency toward a negative correlation between overweight and GCA risk was found.
Reference:
Barde, F., Pacoureau, L., Elbaz, A., Seror, R., & Nguyen, Y. (2025). Association between cardiovascular risk factors and the occurrence of giant cell arteritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Rheumatology (Oxford, England). https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keaf164
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