Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on January 10, 2006
Rheumatology 2006 45(6):741-745; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kei274
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Takayasu's arteritis: a cause of prolonged arterial stiffness
1 Rheumatology Section, Eric Bywaters Centre and Section of Geriatric Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College, London and 2 Department of Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK, 3 Present address: Department of Rheumatology, Ealing Hospital, London, UK, 4 Present address: Department of Ageing and Health, St Thomas Hospital, London, UK.
Correspondence to: J. Mason, Rheumatology Section, Eric Bywaters Centre, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS, UK. E-mail: justin.mason{at}imperial.ac.uk
Objectives. Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in patients with Takayasu's arteritis (TA). Increased arterial stiffness is an independent risk factor and predictor of cardiovascular mortality in a variety of diseases. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and the augmentation index (AI) are used as clinical measurements of arterial stiffness.
Methods. Data are presented from 10 patients with TA and 11 normal controls obtained between 2000 and 2004. Arterial compliance was assessed non-invasively by measurement of PWV, using the Complior® system, and calculation of the aortic AI.
Results. TA patients (mean age 40.8±13.2 yr) were compared with a control group of healthy women from a parallel study (mean age 32.3±5.5 yr). The mean carotid–femoral PWV (PWV-CF) was higher in TA patients (P = 0.03). In addition, both aortic AI derived from the radial artery (P = 0.002) and carotid AI (P = 0.03) were higher in TA patients compared with controls. PWV-CF did not correlate with CRP (r = – 0.23, P = 0.23) or ESR (r = – 0.19, P = 0.27). Similar results were obtained for the correlation of carotid–radial PWV with CRP (r = 0.15, P = 0.32) and ESR (r = 0.33, P = 0.14).
Conclusions. Our data show that TA is associated with elevated arterial stiffness in the central aorta, which may persist when the disease is quiescent. These data suggest that PWV represents a means by which cardiovascular risk can be detected and monitored in TA, and highlights the importance of effective management of cardiovascular risk factors in these patients.
KEY WORDS: Takayasu's arteritis, Arterial stiffness, Vasculitis, Pulse wave velocity, Vascular dysfunction, Augmentation index
Equal contribution to first authorship.
Equal contribution to senior authorship.
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