Takayasu arteritis (TAK) is a rare form of systemic vasculitis that primarily affects the aorta and its major branches. Despite several epidemiological studies on TAK, only a few descriptive studies have been conducted in our country, which motivated us to conduct this study. This single-center retrospective cohort study included Brazilian patients with TAK who underwent follow-up at a tertiary outpatient clinic between January 2000 and June 2024. Patient data were extracted from electronic medical records using standardized and parameterized information. A total of 203 patients with TAK were included, with a predominance of Caucasians (83.7%) and females (79.8%). The median age at disease diagnosis was 28.0 (interquartile range: 20.0–38.0) years, and the median follow-up period was 122.0 (49.0-177.0) months. During the initial or follow-up period, 65.0% of patients used GC and 80.0% used IM/IB drugs. The three most common Hata classifications were V (46.8%), IV (23.2%), and I (22.7%). There was a high burden of cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension (72.9%), dyslipidemia (59.1%), and renovascular hypertension (22.7%). When patients were analyzed according to age quartiles, those who were older at the time of analysis predominantly achieved sustained remission without the need for GC or IS therapy. This is the largest cohort study to include Brazilian patients with TAK. Even with higher cardiovascular risk factors than in other series, we observed lower rates of ischemic or cardiovascular events. Moreover, disease activity and treatment patterns varied significantly according to patient age at the time of analysis, with older patients being less likely to require ongoing IS therapy.
Araujo et al. (Tue,) studied this question.