Mohammad AJ, Turkiewicz A, Stamatis P, et al. - The outcomes of this study demonstrate that individuals with giant cell arteritis (GCA) utilized healthcare services at a significantly higher rate than the reference population. Among Swedish patients with GCA, the increased utilization was evident 1 year before and prolonged up to 4 years after the diagnosis date.

• With the largest relative (rate ratio 1.85, 95% CI 1.68–2.05) and absolute (mean difference 10.2, 95% CI 8.1–12.3 visits per person) differences in the year of diagnosis, individuals with GCA had higher rates of healthcare visits than the references from the year before GCA diagnosis and up to 4 years after diagnosis.

• Researchers found similar trajectories for primary and specialist healthcare visits.

• The differences disappeared 1 year after the diagnosis date for hospital admissions and inpatient days.