Page 12 - The Vasculitides, Volume 1: General Considerations and Systemic Vasculitis

x David S. Younger
revised Chapel Hill Consensus Criteria, other formative topics such as childhood vasculitides
and central and peripheral nervous system vasculitides are also included emphasizing their
emerging importance.

Recognition of the likeliest pathogenic mechanisms such as ANCA has led to more
precise classification, clinical recognition, laboratory diagnosis, and successful therapeutic
strategies. However the full impact of the burden of vasculitides in metrics of years of life lost
(YLL), years lived with disability (YLD), and disability-adjusted life years (DALY), has yet
to be applied to vasculitides, as they have in other noncommunicable disorders in the Global
Burden of Disease (GBD) Study sponsored by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
at the University of Washington, U.S.A.

I wish to thank each of the contributors for their participation and their tolerance for my
incessant editing and rewriting that assured uniformed style and content. I also wish to
express my appreciation to my colleagues at New York University School of Medicine, who
expressed their enthusiasm for this volume, as well as, my family who stood silently by,
while I worked diligently to finish this book. Lastly, this volume would not have been
possible without the understanding and patience of Nova Science Publisher staff.

David S. Younger, M.D., M.P.H.
June 1, 2014

Complimentary Contributor Copy