Meeting local needs.
Authors: M McKee, A Clarke, B Tennison
Journal: BMJ (1993)

<h3>Background</h3> Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is an autoimmune vasculitis that frequently occur in young women.Multiple previous studies have demonstrated that accelerated atherosclerotic changes were commonly found in TA patients<sup>[1-4]</sup>.More specifically, data indicated that as much as 27% of all TA patients developed carotid artery plaque, while which was only 2% in the age- and sex-matched healthy individuals[1]. In addition, up to 20% of TA patients developed stroke and/or transient ischemic attack(TIA), which both have been known to be associated with atherosclerotic lesions<sup>[1-3]</sup>. Inflammation of the vascular wall may promotes atherosclerosis (As) in TA,which accelerates the development of As.Higher triglyceride (TG)/HDL-C ratio was found to be associated with presence of endothelial dysfunction and As<sup>[5]</sup>. <h3>Objectives</h3> This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with the development of atherosclerosis in TA. <h3>Methods</h3> This retrospective study enrolled a total of 101 TA patients. All patients were divided into two groups according to the absence or presence of atherosclerosis(43 vs 58). Baseline demographic features and clinical characteristics were compared between two groups. A logistic model was applied to determine the risk factors associated with the development of atherosclerosis. <h3>Results</h3> Our data suggested that the disease duration of patients in the atherosclerosis group was significantly longer than that of patients in the non-atherosclerosis group [96(18.00,180.00) vs 48.00(12.00,111.00) months] (<i>p</i>=0.015). In addition, the average age of patients with atherosclerosis was significantly older compared to patients without atherosclerosis [44.00（38.00，48.00）vs 28.50（24.00，37.00）years] (<i>p&lt;</i>0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of developing atherosclerosis increased by 9.2% per 1 year increase in thedisease duration(<i>p</i>=0.005, OR 1.092,95%CI:1.027-1.162).Patients with TG/HDL-C ratio more than 0.8875 were associated with a 5.861fold increase of risk developing atherosclerosis(<i>p&lt;</i>0.001, 95%CI:2.299-14.939). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Our study indicated that prolonged disease duration and elevated TG/HDL-C ratio are associated with the development of atherosclerosis in TA patients. <h3>References</h3> [1]Seyahi E, Ugurlu S, Cumali R, Balci H, Seyahi N, Yurdakul S, et al. Atherosclerosis in Takayasu arteritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2006;65(9):1202-7. [2]Numano F, Okawara M, Inomata H, Kobayashi Y. Takayasu’s arteritis. Lancet. 2000;356(9234):1023-5. [3]Park KC, Kim JH, Yoon SS, Heo SH. Takayasu’s disease presenting with atherothrombotic ischaemic stroke. Neurol Sci. 2008;29(5):363-6. [4]Seyahi E, Ucgul A, Cebi Olgun D, Ugurlu S, Akman C, Tutar O, et al. Aortic and coronary calcifications in Takayasu arteritis. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2013;43(1):96-104. [5]Keles N, Aksu F, Aciksari G, et al. Is triglyceride/HDL ratio a reliable screening test for assessment of atherosclerotic risk in patients with chronic inflammatory disease?:[J]. Northern Clinics of Istanbul, 2016, 3(1):39-45. <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None declared