[Polymyalgia rheumatica in patients of a rheumatologic specialty practice. Clinical signs and etiological events].

Manifestations of polymyalgia rheumatica in 100 ambulatory patients of an internistic, rheumatological specialist's practice were investigated. In this group of patients, both the clinical course of the disease and its prognosis were found to be more benign than is commonly reported in the literature. Thus, for example, temporal arteritis was found in only three of the one hundred patients. Not all of the patients were found to have the markedly elevated ESR normally considered to be typical. For this reason, to establish inflammatory activity, in addition to ESR, C-reactive protein (CRP) should also be determined in order to ensure that atypical forms with less marked signs of inflammation are not overlooked. Thirty of the 100 patients reported possible triggering life events.