Prognosis is excellent. Life expectancy is normal (giant cell arteritis) or prolonged (polymyalgia rheumatica) in treated patients. Many patients no longer receive therapy after two years.

Corticosteroids are the mainstay of treatment; no conclusive evidence for steroid-sparing effect of other immunosuppressants.

Adjunctive therapy should include bone-saving measures.

Systemic inflammatory responses and symptoms of polymyalgia rheumatica are highly sensitive to corticosteroids; vascular lesions, driven by adaptive immune responses, seem relatively resistant to immunosuppression.

In the chronic phase of the disease, most patients are clinically stable, although there is laboratory evidence of smoldering disease.

Vascular complications are infrequent after the initiation of corticosteroid therapy; some patients may develop aortic aneurysm, but the number of patients at risk for this complication and the responsiveness of aortitis to therapy are unclear.