Clinical characteristics, imaging phenotypes and events free survival in Takayasu arteritis patients with hypertension

BACKGROUND: Hypertension occurred in 30–80% of Takayasu arteritis (TAK) patients around the world and the occurrence of hypertension might worsen the disease prognosis. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and imaging phenotypes, as well as their associations with events free survival (EFS) in Chinese TAK patients with hypertension. METHODS: This current research was based on a prospectively ongoing observational cohort-the East China Takayasu Arteritis (ECTA) cohort, centered in Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University. Totally, 204 TAK patients with hypertension were enrolled between January 2013 and December 2019. Clinical characteristics and imaging phenotypes of each case were evaluated and their associations with the EFS by the end of August 30, 2020, were analyzed. RESULTS: Severe hypertension accounted for 46.1% of the entire population. Three specific imaging phenotypes were identified: Cluster 1: involvement of the abdominal aorta and/or renal artery (27.5%); Cluster 2: involvement of the ascending aorta, thoracic aorta, the aortic arch, and/or its branches (18.6%); and Cluster 3: combined involvement of Cluster 1 and 2 (53.9%). Clinical characteristics, especially hypertensive severity, differed greatly among the three imaging clusters. In all, 187 patients were followed up for a median of 46 (9–102) months; 72 events were observed in 60 patients (1–3 per person). The overall blood pressure control rate was 50.8%, and the EFS was 67.9% by the end of the follow-up. Multivariate Cox regression indicated that controlled blood pressure (HR = 2.13, 95% CI 1.32–3.74), Cluster 1 (HR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.48–0.92) and Cluster 3 (HR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.43–0.94) imaging phenotype was associated with the EFS. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that patients with controlled blood pressure showed better EFS (p = 0.043). Furthermore, using cases with Cluster 1 imaging phenotype and controlled blood pressure as reference, better EFS was observed in patients with Cluster 2 phenotype and controlled blood pressure (HR = 2.21, 95%CI 1.47–4.32), while the case with Cluster 1 phenotype plus uncontrolled blood pressure (HR = 0.64, 95%CI 0.52–0.89) and those with Cluster 3 phenotype and uncontrolled blood pressure (HR = 0.83, 95%CI 0.76–0.92) suffered worse EFS. CONCLUSION: Blood pressure control status and imaging phenotypes showed significant effects on the EFS for TAK patients with hypertension. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13075-021-02579-8.