Temporal arteritis in a large necropsy series.

Temporal arteritis is a disease of old age, often manifesting itself clinically with rather vague symptoms of fatigue, general malaise, and weight loss. The characteristic headache or symptoms from the temporal regions may appear late (Harrison and Bevan, 1967) or may pass unobserved. The first report of a case was given by Hutchinson (1890) in London, and series of varying numbers have since been published from different parts of the world. Most have been collected in more or less specialized clinics and there has been no correlation with any defined population. The number of reports shows that the condition is not rare. The present investigation establishes the prevalence of temporal arteritis in a necropsy series from a defined population, namely the city of Malm6 in Southern Sweden. Discussion with Dr. Hamrin* of Vaxjo, who is investigating polymyalgia rheumatica and temporal arteritis in a county of southern Sweden, gave the impression that there may be differences between the urban and rural districts. As Vaxjo has no regular pathology service, contact was established with the pathology department in the nearby county of Kalmar.