Skip to main content

Table 2 Classification Criteria for Polymyalgia Rheumatica

From: The prevalence of giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica in a UK primary care population

Authors & Year

Proposed Criteria

Requirement for Classification

Bird et al. (1979)

Age ≥65 years

Bilateral shoulder pain and stiffness; acute or subacute onset (<2 weeks); morning stiffness >1 h depression and/or weight loss; bilateral tenderness in upper arm muscles

ESR >40 mm/h

Any three, or any one plus temporal artery abnormality (including decreased pulsation, tenderness, beading or bruit).

Jones and Hazelman (1981)

Shoulder and pelvic girdle pain; morning stiffness >1 h; exclusion of rheumatoid arthritis or other inflammatory arthropathy, myopathy, malignancy

ESR >30 mm/h or CRP >6 mg/L

Rapid response to corticosteroids

All criteria must be met

Chuang et al. (1982)

Age ≥50 years

>1 month bilateral aching and stiffness of at least two of the following areas: Neck or torso, shoulders or proximal arms, hips or proximal thighs; exclusion of other causes

ESR >40 mm/h

All criteria must be met

Healey and Wilske (1984)

Age ≥ 50 years

>1 month of neck, shoulder, or pelvic girdle pain (any two areas); morning stiffness >1 h; exclusion of other diagnoses

ESR ≥40 mm/h

Rapid response to daily, low-dose steroid therapy (i.e., prednisolone ≤20 mg)

All criteria must be met

Doran et al. (2002)

Age ≥ 50 years;

Bilateral aching and morning stiffness (lasting ≥ 30 min) persisting for at least 1 month and involving 2 of the following areas: neck or torso, shoulders or proximal regions of the arms, and hips or proximal aspects of the thighs

ESR > 40 mm/h OR rapid response to corticosteroids

All criteria must be met

Dasgupta et al. (2012)

Morning stiffness ≥ 45 min (2 points); Hip pain, limited range of movement (1 point) Absence of other joint pain (1 point)

Normal RhF or ACPA (2 points)

Ultrasound criteria: at least 1 shoulder with subdeltoid bursitis and/or biceps tenosynovitis and/or glenohumeral synovitis AND at least 1 hip with synovitis and/or trochanteric bursitis (1 point); both shoulders with subdeltoid bursitis, bicep tenosynovitis or glenohumeral synovitis (1 point)

All patients must be: Age ≥50 years, have bilateral shoulder aching and abnormal ESR/CRP

Scoring algorithm without ultrasound score of 4 needed – with ultrasound score of 5 needed