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Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common vasculitis in adults aged ≥ 50 years in Europe. Recently, colour Doppler ultrasonography (CDS) and positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) have improved the diagnostic sensitivity. The aim of our study was to determine the incidence of GCA in a well-defined Slovenian region, supported by the temporal artery (TA) biopsy (TAB) or CDS or PET/CT. This prospective study was conducted at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, the only secondary/tertiary centre in the region, serving a population of 323,297 residents aged ≥ 50 years. Patients with suspected GCA are referred either to the Department of Rheumatology, or in case of severe visual disturbances, to the Department of Ophthalmology. We included all GCA cases diagnosed between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2017. We diagnosed cranial GCA (c-GCA) using the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1990 classification criteria and a positive TAB or TA-CDS. Large vessel GCA (lv-GCA) was diagnosed using CDS or PET/CT. During the 6-year observation, we identified 169 incipient GCA cases (66.3% female, median (IQR) age of 75.1 (68.6-80.0) years). Forty-two (24.8%) patients had lv-GCA, and the others had c-GCA. The estimated annual incidence rates of GCA were overall 8.7 (95% CI 7.5-10.1), c-GCA 6.5 (95% CI 5.5-7.8) and lv-GCA 2.2 (95%CI 1.6-2.9) per 100,000 aged ≥ 50 years. GCA is the most common vasculitis in adults aged ≥ 50 years, with an annual incidence rate of 8.7 per 100,000.

Epidemiological studies of spondyloarthritides (SpA) are rare and data for our country are lacking. We aimed to determine the incidence of SpA in a well-defined region in Slovenia. We performed a retrospective chart review of adults diagnosed with SpA between January 2014 and December 2016 at an integrated secondary/tertiary medical center, which provides rheumatology services to almost a half of the adult national population, that is, 700,000 adults. Potential cases were ascertained by searching the electronic medical records for ICD-10 codes M02∗, M07∗, M13∗, M45∗, M 46.1, K50∗, K51∗, and L40∗. SpA cases were stratified as axial and peripheral SpA and then the annual incidence rates of SpA overall and both subsets were estimated. During the 3-year period we identified 302 SpA cases (55.0% males, median [interquartile range] age 46.7 [35.0–57.5] years). 98 (32.5%) of them had predominantly axial SpA and the remainder peripheral SpA. The estimated annual incidence rate per 100,000 adults in our region was 14.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 12.8–16.0) for SpA overall, 4.6 (95% CI 3.8–5.6) for axial SpA, and 9.6 (95% CI 8.4–11.1) for peripheral SpA. The estimated annual incidence rate of 14.3 cases per 100,000 adults in SpA overall was comparable to that of rheumatoid arthritis in our population. The peripheral SpA was twice as common as axial SpA.