Takayasu arteritis is a rare type of vasculitis that affects the aorta and its branches, as well as the pulmonary arteries. It is associated with significant morbidity, both from the disease and its treatment. This project aims to describe the prevalence and incidence of Takayasu arteritis in England, to help with the planning of specialist care and treatment for this condition.

This is a collaborative project between the RECORDER team and Prof Justin Mason’s team at Imperial College

Background

Takayasu arteritis is a rare type of vasculitis that affects the aorta and its branches, as well as the pulmonary arteries. It is more common amongst women and in certain ethnic populations (particularly Asian populations) and can affect people from a young age.

Symptoms of Takayasu arteritis can include fatigue, fever, weight loss, and weakness. It can also cause symptoms related to the blood vessels, such as high blood pressure, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. In some cases, Takayasu arteritis can lead to serious complications, such as aneurysms or stenosis (narrowing) of the blood vessels.

Takayasu arteritis is known to be rare. However, the number of people in England living with Takayasu arteritis, and the number newly affected each year were unknown, as were patterns of occurrence by age, sex, socioeconomic deprivation, ethnicity and geographical location.

Aims

The aim of this project was to develop and validate methods to identify people with Takayasu Arteritis from Hospital Episode Statistics (hospital administrative records) for the whole of England.

These data were then used to describe the incidence and prevalence of Takayasu Arteritis in England, and to investigate the impact of age, sex, socioeconomic deprivation, ethnicity and geographical location.