Article Text

2022 American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology classification criteria for granulomatosis with polyangiitis
  1. Joanna C Robson1,
  2. Peter C Grayson2,
  3. Cristina Ponte3,
  4. Ravi Suppiah4,
  5. Anthea Craven5,
  6. Andrew Judge6,7,
  7. Sara Khalid5,
  8. Andrew Hutchings8,
  9. Richard A Watts5,9,
  10. Peter A Merkel10,
  11. Raashid A Luqmani5
  12. The DCVAS Investigators
    1. 1 Centre for Health and Clinical Research, University of the West of England, and University Hospitals and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol, UK
    2. 2 National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
    3. 3 Rheumatology, Hospital de Santa Maria, Centro Hospitalar Universitario Lisboa Norte, Universidade de Lisboa, and Centro Académico de Medicina de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
    4. 4 Auckland District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand
    5. 5 Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
    6. 6 Bristol NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
    7. 7 Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
    8. 8 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London, UK
    9. 9 University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
    10. 10 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pensylvania, USA
    1. Correspondence to Professor Peter A Merkel, Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; pmerkel{at}upenn.edu

    Abstract

    Objective To develop and validate revised classification criteria for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA).

    Methods Patients with vasculitis or comparator diseases were recruited into an international cohort. The study proceeded in five phases: (1) identification of candidate criteria items using consensus methodology, (2) prospective collection of candidate items present at the time of diagnosis, (3) data-driven reduction of the number of candidate items, (4) expert panel review of cases to define the reference diagnosis and (5) derivation of a points-based risk score for disease classification in a development set using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator logistic regression, with subsequent validation of performance characteristics in an independent set of cases and comparators.

    Results The development set for GPA consisted of 578 cases of GPA and 652 comparators. The validation set consisted of an additional 146 cases of GPA and 161 comparators. From 91 candidate items, regression analysis identified 26 items for GPA, 10 of which were retained. The final criteria and their weights were as follows: bloody nasal discharge, nasal crusting or sino-nasal congestion (+3); cartilaginous involvement (+2); conductive or sensorineural hearing loss (+1); cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) or anti-proteinase 3 ANCA positivity (+5); pulmonary nodules, mass or cavitation on chest imaging (+2); granuloma or giant cells on biopsy (+2); inflammation or consolidation of the nasal/paranasal sinuses on imaging (+1); pauci-immune glomerulonephritis (+1); perinuclear ANCA or antimyeloperoxidase ANCA positivity (−1); and eosinophil count ≥1×109 /L (−4). After excluding mimics of vasculitis, a patient with a diagnosis of small- or medium-vessel vasculitis could be classified as having GPA if the cumulative score was ≥5 points. When these criteria were tested in the validation data set, the sensitivity was 93% (95% CI 87% to 96%) and the specificity was 94% (95% CI 89% to 97%).

    Conclusion The 2022 American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology classification criteria for GPA demonstrate strong performance characteristics and are validated for use in research.

    • granulomatosis with polyangiitis
    • rehabilitation
    • arthritis

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    Supplementary materials

    Footnotes

    • Presented at This article is published simultaneously in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

    • Collaborators The DCVAS study investigators are as follows: Paul Gatenby (ANU Medical Centre, Canberra, Australia); Catherine Hill (Central Adelaide Local Health Network: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Australia); Dwarakanathan Ranganathan (Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Australia); Andreas Kronbichler (Medical University Innsbruck, Austria); Daniel Blockmans (University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium); Lillian Barra (Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada); Simon Carette, Christian Pagnoux (Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada); Navjot Dhindsa (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada); Aurore Fifi-Mah (University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada); Nader Khalidi (St Joseph’s Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada); Patrick Liang (Sherbrooke University Hospital Centre, Canada); Nataliya Milman (University of Ottawa, Canada); Christian Pineau (McGill University, Canada); Xinping Tian (Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China); Guochun Wang (China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China); Tian Wang (Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, China); Ming-hui Zhao (Peking University First Hospital, China); Vladimir Tesar (General University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic); Bo Baslund (University Hospital, Copenhagen [Rigshospitalet], Denmark); Nevin Hammam (Assiut University, Egypt); Amira Shahin (Cairo University, Egypt); Laura Pirila (Turku University Hospital, Finland); Jukka Putaala (Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland); Bernhard Hellmich (Kreiskliniken Esslingen, Germany); Jörg Henes (Universitätsklinikum Tübingen, Germany); Peter Lamprecht (Klinikum Bad Bramstedt, Germany); Thomas Neumann (Universitätsklinikum Jena, Germany); Wolfgang Schmidt (Immanuel Krankenhaus Berlin, Germany); Cord Sunderkoetter (Universitätsklinikum Müenster, Germany); Zoltan Szekanecz (University of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Center, Hungary); Debashish Danda (Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, India); Siddharth Das (Chatrapathi Shahuji Maharaj Medical Center, Lucknow [IP], India); Rajiva Gupta (Medanta, Delhi, India); Liza Rajasekhar (NIMS, Hyderabad, India); Aman Sharma (Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India); Shrikant Wagh (Jehangir Clinical Development Centre, Pune [IP], India); Michael Clarkson (Cork University Hospital, Ireland); Eamonn Molloy (St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland); Carlo Salvarani (Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, Reggio Emilia, Italy); Franco Schiavon (L’Azienda Ospedaliera of University of Padua, Italy); Enrico Tombetti (Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele Milano, Italy); Augusto Vaglio (University of Parma, Italy); Koichi Amano (Saitama Medical University, Japan); Yoshihiro Arimura (Kyorin University Hospital, Japan); Hiroaki Dobashi (Kagawa University Hospital, Japan); Shouichi Fujimoto (Miyazaki University Hospital [HUB], Japan); Masayoshi Harigai, Fumio Hirano (Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital, Japan); Junichi Hirahashi (University Tokyo Hospital, Japan); Sakae Honma (Toho University Hospital, Japan); Tamihiro Kawakami (St. Marianna University Hospital Dermatology, Japan); Shigeto Kobayashi (Juntendo University Koshigaya Hospital, Japan); Hajime Kono (Teikyo University, Japan); Hirofumi Makino (Okayama University Hospital, Japan); Kazuo Matsui (Kameda Medical Centre, Kamogawa, Japan); Eri Muso (Kitano Hospital, Japan); Kazuo Suzuki, Kei Ikeda (Chiba University Hospital, Japan); Tsutomu Takeuchi (Keio University Hospital, Japan); Tatsuo Tsukamoto (Kyoto University Hospital, Japan); Shunya Uchida (Teikyo University Hospital, Japan); Takashi Wada (Kanazawa University Hospital, Japan); Hidehiro Yamada (St. Marianna University Hospital Internal Medicine, Japan); Kunihiro Yamagata (Tsukuba University Hospital, Japan); Wako Yumura (IUHW Hospital [Jichi Medical University Hospital], Japan); Kan Sow Lai (Penang General Hospital, Malaysia); Luis Felipe Flores- Suarez (Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Mexico City, Mexico); Andrea Hinojosa (Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico); Bram Rutgers (University Hospital Groningen, Netherlands); Paul-Peter Tak (Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands); Rebecca Grainger (Wellington, Otago, New Zealand); Vicki Quincey (Waikato District Health Board, New Zealand); Lisa Stamp (University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand); Ravi Suppiah (Auckland District Health Board, New Zealand); Emilio Besada (Tromsø, Northern Norway, Norway); Andreas Diamantopoulos (Hospital of Southern Norway, Kristiansand, Norway); Jan Sznajd (University of Jagiellonian, Poland); Elsa Azevedo (Centro Hospitalar de S~ao Jo~ao, Porto, Portugal); Ruth Geraldes (Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon, Portugal); Miguel Rodrigues (Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal); Ernestina Santos (Hospital Santo Antonio, Porto, Portugal); Yeong-Wook Song (Seoul National University Hospital, Republic of Korea); Sergey Moiseev (First Moscow State Medical University, Russia); Alojzija Hocˇevar (University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia); Maria Cinta Cid (Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Spain); Xavier Solanich Moreno (Hospital de Bellvitge-Idibell, Spain); Inoshi Atukorala (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka); Ewa Berglin (Umeå University Hospital, Sweden); Aladdin Mohammed (Lund-Malmo University, Sweden); Mårten Segelmark (Linköping University, Sweden); Thomas Daikeler (University Hospital Basel, Switzerland); Haner Direskeneli (Marmara University Medical School, Turkey); Gulen Hatemi (Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical School, Turkey); Sevil Kamali (Istanbul University, Istanbul Medical School, Turkey); Ömer Karadag (Hacettepe University, Turkey); Seval Pehlevan (Fatih University Medical Faculty, Turkey); Matthew Adler (Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, Wexham Park Hospital, UK); Neil Basu (NHS Grampian, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, UK); Iain Bruce (Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Kuntal Chakravarty (Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK); Bhaskar Dasgupta (Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Oliver Flossmann (Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Nagui Gendi (Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Alaa Hassan (North Cumbria University Hospitals, UK); Rachel Hoyles (Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK); David Jayne (Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Colin Jones (York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Rainer Klocke (The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Peter Lanyon (Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK); Cathy Laversuch (Taunton & Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Musgrove Park Hospital, UK); Raashid Luqmani, Joanna Robson (Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford, UK); Malgorzata Magliano (Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, UK); Justin Mason (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, UK); Win Win Maw (Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust, UK); Iain McInnes (NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Gartnavel Hospital & GRI, UK); John Mclaren (NHS Fife, Whyteman’s Brae Hospital, UK); Matthew Morgan (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, UK); Ann Morgan (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK); Chetan Mukhtyar (Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Edmond O’Riordan (Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Sanjeev Patel (Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK); Adrian Peall (Wye Valley NHS Trust, Hereford County Hospital, UK); Joanna Robson (University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Srinivasan Venkatachalam (The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, UK); Erin Vermaak, Ajit Menon (Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Partnership NHS Trust, Haywood Hospital, UK); Richard Watts (East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Chee-Seng Yee (Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK); Daniel Albert (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, US); Leonard Calabrese (Cleveland Clinic Foundation, US); Sharon Chung (University of California, San Francisco, US); Lindsy Forbess (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, US); Angelo Gaffo (University of Alabama at Birmingham, US); Ora Gewurz-Singer (University of Michigan, US); Peter Grayson (Boston University School of Medicine, US); Kimberly Liang (University of Pittsburgh, US); Eric Matteson (Mayo Clinic, US); Peter A. Merkel (University of Pennsylvania, US); Jason Springer (University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute, US); and Antoine Sreih (Rush University Medical Center, US).

    • Contributors All authors were involved in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and all authors approved the final version to be published. PAM had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study conception and design: PCG, CP, JCR, RS, AC, AJ, AH, RAL, RAW, PAM. Acquisition of data: PCG, CP, JCR, RS, AC, RAW, RAL, PAM. Analysis and interpretation of data: PCG, CP, RS, JCR, AC, AJ, SK, AH, RAW, RAL, PAM.

    • Funding The Diagnostic and Classification Criteria in Vasculitis (DCVAS) study, of which the development of these classification criteria was a part, was funded by grants from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR), the Vasculitis Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania Vasculitis Center.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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