The change from an eponym to a representative name: Wegener to granulomatosis with polyangiitis

Abstract

In 2011, professional societies recommended the use of the representative name “Granulomatosis with polyangiitis GPA” followed by the parenthetical eponym “Wegener”, due to the ethical concerns that were raised on Wegener. We aim to study the change in using the eponym “Wegener” to using the representative name “GPA” in medical literature in the period from 2010 to 2017. We used Scopus database to search for articles or reviews that used the eponym “Wegener”, and those that used the representative name “GPA” during the years 2010–2017, using appropriate operators and limiting tools available. A total of 2613 publications used the eponym “Wegener” compared to 1443 publications included the phrase “GPA” during the years 2010–2017. We found a significant difference in number of publications that used the eponym alone in the years from 2010 to 2014 (p < 0.001), reaching only 11.8% of the total publications in 2014, with no significant difference in the subsequent years (i.e. 2014–2017). USA, UK, and US-based institutions published research using the eponym alone significantly more than Germany, France, and Japan. The use of the eponym only also varied among journals. Changing an eponym to a representative name would take around 4 years to adopt the new change.