Complications, Risk Factors, And Causes Of Temporal Arteritis

Gender

An individual's gender may make them more likely to develop temporal arteritis then those of the opposite gender. For every male affected by this disease, 3.7 females are affected. This uneven gender distribution is thought to be the result of the gender distribution amongst a combination of all possible underlying causes of the disease. Arterial degeneration and minute calcification of the blood vessel internal elastic membranes are more prevalent among women than men and can cause an individual to develop temporal arteritis. Another possible mechanism may have to do with the differences in the immune systems of females and males. Females are known to generally have increased immune reactivity to stimuli then males do. Females also have the ability to secrete larger quantities of anti-inflammatory cytokines and multiple antibody isotypes. This could cause the immune systems in some females to become overactive and result in the development of an autoimmune disease. It is the immune system of an affected individual that attacks the endothelial tissues, resulting in the development of temporal arteritis. A female who smokes or uses tobacco products is six times more likely to develop this disease than a woman who does not.

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