Cardiac Involvement in Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis

Objective. To determine frequency and outcomes of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA)-related cardiac disease in a North American GPA cohort. Methods. Analysis was done of all patients in the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium Longitudinal Study of GPA. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with and without GPA-related cardiac involvement were compared. Results. Of 517 patients with GPA, 3.3% had cardiac involvement. No differences were observed between patients with or without cardiac involvement in terms of demographics, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody positivity, or relapse rate. Conclusion. Cardiac involvement in GPA is rare and heterogeneous. In this cohort, cardiac involvement was not associated with a higher rate of relapse or premature death.