TY - JOUR T1 - 2015 Recommendations for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica: a European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology collaborative initiative JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases JO - Ann Rheum Dis SP - 1799 LP - 1807 DO - 10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-207492 VL - 74 IS - 10 AU - Christian Dejaco AU - Yogesh P Singh AU - Pablo Perel AU - Andrew Hutchings AU - Dario Camellino AU - Sarah Mackie AU - Andy Abril AU - Artur Bachta AU - Peter Balint AU - Kevin Barraclough AU - Lina Bianconi AU - Frank Buttgereit AU - Steven Carsons AU - Daniel Ching AU - Maria Cid AU - Marco Cimmino AU - Andreas Diamantopoulos AU - William Docken AU - Christina Duftner AU - Billy Fashanu AU - Kate Gilbert AU - Pamela Hildreth AU - Jane Hollywood AU - David Jayne AU - Manuella Lima AU - Ajesh Maharaj AU - Christian Mallen AU - Victor Martinez-Taboada AU - Mehrdad Maz AU - Steven Merry AU - Jean Miller AU - Shunsuke Mori AU - Lorna Neill AU - Elisabeth Nordborg AU - Jennifer Nott AU - Hannah Padbury AU - Colin Pease AU - Carlo Salvarani AU - Michael Schirmer AU - Wolfgang Schmidt AU - Robert Spiera AU - David Tronnier AU - Alexandre Wagner AU - Madeline Whitlock AU - Eric L Matteson AU - Bhaskar Dasgupta Y1 - 2015/10/01 UR - http://ard.bmj.com/content/74/10/1799.abstract N2 - Therapy for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) varies widely in clinical practice as international recommendations for PMR treatment are not currently available. In this paper, we report the 2015 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) recommendations for the management of PMR. We used the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology as a framework for the project. Accordingly, the direction and strength of the recommendations are based on the quality of evidence, the balance between desirable and undesirable effects, patients’ and clinicians’ values and preferences, and resource use. Eight overarching principles and nine specific recommendations were developed covering several aspects of PMR, including basic and follow-up investigations of patients under treatment, risk factor assessment, medical access for patients and specialist referral, treatment strategies such as initial glucocorticoid (GC) doses and subsequent tapering regimens, use of intramuscular GCs and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), as well as the roles of non-steroidal anti-rheumatic drugs and non-pharmacological interventions. These recommendations will inform primary, secondary and tertiary care physicians about an international consensus on the management of PMR. These recommendations should serve to inform clinicians about best practices in the care of patients with PMR. ER -