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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffThe most serious complication of polymyalgia rheumatica is giant cell arteritis. The exact relationship between the two conditions isn't clear, but between 10 percent and 20 percent of people with polymyalgia rheumatica also develop giant cell arteritis and nearly half of those with giant cell arteritis have polymyalgia rheumatica.
Giant cell arteritis causes the lining of arteries to become inflamed and swollen. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood from your heart to the rest of your body. Although giant cell arteritis can affect the arteries in your neck, upper body and arms, it occurs most often in the scalp arteries in your temples. Untreated, giant cell arteritis may lead to vision loss, a stroke or an aortic aneurysm, a potentially life-threatening bulge in the large artery that runs down the center of your chest and abdomen.
Polymyalgia rheumatica itself causes few other serious problems, but the corticosteroid drugs used to treat the disease can cause a number of serious side effects, such as weight gain, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, high blood sugar levels and cataracts.
