Profile picture for Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

Dr Sarah Mackie is an academic rheumatologist based in Leeds, UK. Her research interests are giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). She is first author of the 2020 British Society for Rheumatology guideline on giant cell arteritis. Her team won a 2022 British Society for Rheumatology Best Practice award for their GCA diagnostic pathway. She is Co-Chair of the Outcome Measures in PMR Working Group which has produced a Core Domain Set for clinical trials in PMR. She is Chief Investigator of the STERLING-PMR trial which will start recruiting soon.

Articles By Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

Smile feedback opinion yes no good back opinion

Best of 2023: PMR: glad or bad tidings?

By Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

Please don’t tell your patient that PMR “typically” lasts two years. According to real-world data from the UK, one in four patients with PMR is prescribed steroids by their primary care physician for over four years. But nobody tells them this at the start, and that causes big problems later on.

Read Article
mind-the-gap-1876790_640.jpg

Blinkers and the Unseen Information Gap in PMR

By Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

In my earlier blog, PMR: glad or bad tidings? I mentioned our PMR Voices 2021 public engagement project. This project brought home to me as a physician that although our expertise is essential, one unfortunate side-effect is that our very expertise can give us “blinkers”. One result of our “blinkers” is that we may fail to see the extent of the information gap between us and our patients with newly-diagnosed PMR. 

Read Article
figure pushing a ball uphill

When PMR Strikes Young, It Hits Hard

By Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

Narratives around polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) often centre around “older people” or even “elderly”. And, indeed, the peak of the age distribution is in the mid-70s – not that everyone that age considers themselves old. Treating “young PMR” can be a very different proposition to treating someone in their seventies or eighties. It’s worth taking time to think this through.

Read Article
question mark idea confusion unsure uncertain

What Causes PMR?

By Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

What causes polymyalgia rheumatica? It could be said that PMR occurs when trajectories of aging take a wrong turn, but it’s still not clear exactly what it is that causes this to happen. The ideas that follow will doubtless seem, to immunologists, vague and oversimplified; but even a partial picture might still offer a possible framework for clinicians and patients for thinking about treatment and care.

Read Article
Smile feedback opinion yes no good back opinion

PMR: glad or bad tidings?

By Sarah Mackie, MRCP, PhD

Please don’t tell your patient that PMR “typically” lasts two years. According to real-world data from the UK, one in four patients with PMR is prescribed steroids by their primary care physician for over four years. But nobody tells them this at the start, and that causes big problems later on.

Read Article
×