The utility of the ACR/EULAR 2017 provisional classification criteria for granulomatosis with polyangiitis in Korean patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis.

Objectives We applied the ACR/EULAR 2017 provisional classification criteria for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) to 150 Korean patients with previously diagnosed antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) and investigated how many patients with AAV were reclassified as GPA. Methods We included patients with 30 GPA, 30 eosinophilic GPA (EGPA) and 90 microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) patients. Patients can be classified as GPA, when the sum of scores is more than 5. Results At diagnosis the mean age of 150 patients with AAV was 60.1 years old, and 101 patients (67.3%) were women. Overall, 33 of 150 patients with AAV (22.0%) were classified as GPA according to the 2017 provisional criteria for GPA. The 2017 provisional criteria for GPA dropped to 10.0% of previously diagnosed GPA patients and the major factor to drop 3 GPA patients was the deletion of 2 items of the 1990 criteria, urinary sediment and infiltrates on chest radiograph. Meanwhile, one of 30 patients with EGPA (3.3%) and 5 of 90 patients with MPA (5.6%) were newly classified as GPA based on the 2017 provisional criteria for GPA. We could also find that items of the 2017 provisional criteria to contribute to reclassifying EGPA and MPA patients as GPA were PR3-ANCA, mass-like lung lesion and nasal congestion in Korean patients with AAV. Conclusions The use of the 2017 provisional criteria for GPA excluded 10.0% of previously classified GPA patients and newly classified 3.3% of EGPA patients and 5.6% of MPA patients as GPA in Korean patients with AAV.