Evaluating the Incidence of Arteritic Ischemic Optic Neuropathy and Other Causes of Vision Loss From Giant Cell Arteritis (.pdf)

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a potentially blinding condition, so determining the incidence of permanent vision loss, especially arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (AION), is important and may help guide the screening and treatment of this disease. The goal of this study is to evaluate the population-based incidence of AION and other causes of permanent vision loss from GCA using a wellestablished medical records linkage system designed to capture data on patient-physician encounters.