The leading cause of death in patients with GPA 5-10 years after diagnosis was cancer (30.3% of cases), but when this was compared against the general population, the risk was no greater (hazard ratio, 1.0).
GPA cases were also 2.9 times more likely than controls to die as a result of an infection, suggesting that this together with CVD could be a target for mortality reduction strategies.
“We can’t get away from the fact that although this is a large study, there are still small numbers of patients because this is rare disease,” Dr. Pearce observed. “We also don’t have detailed clinical information on each patient, so we can’t look for associations or clinical phenotypes at diagnosis, and there are no biomarkers.”
From a clinical perspective, she noted, it is important to remember that deaths in the first year are mainly from active disease and to continue to try to diagnose and treat the condition as early as possible.