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  • Clinical Research Article
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Age specific clinical manifestations and vascular involvements in childhood-onset Takayasu arteritis

Pediatric Research (2025)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Limited studies focused on characteristics of childhood-onset Takayasu arteritis (cTAK) throughout growth and development.

Methods

111 cTAK patients were recruited from six tertiary hospitals across China from January 2009 to December 2021. Patients were classified into infant group (<12 months), toddler and preschool group (≥12 months, <72 months), school-age group (≥72 months, <144 months) and adolescent group (≥144 months).

Results

Infantile cTAK patients tended to had a significantly higher proportion presenting with fever (91.7%, P-trend <0.001), and had significantly higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cells (WBC), platelet (PLT), and lower hemoglobin (HGB) compared to the other three groups (all P < 0.0125). Adolescent patients were more likely to present with headache (33.3%), dizziness (24.2%) and fatigue (51.5%; all P-trend < 0.001). Infantile patients were more likely to have coronary artery involvement (75.0%, P trend < 0.001). Adolescent patients were more likely to have superior mesenteric artery (36.4%, P trend = 0.005), carotid artery (30.3%, P trend = 0.003), and celiac trunk artery stenosis (27.3%, P trend = 0.005).Younger patients, especially infants, had a lower proportion of glucocorticoids use (P trend = 0.001). 73.0% (81/111) of patients were in remission, with a median follow-up time of 2.00 [2.00, 5.00] years.

Conclusion

The age-specific patterns identified in this study offered valuable insights for a comprehensive understanding of cTAK.

Impact

  • Infantile Takayasu arteritis patients tended to present with fever, elevated inflammatory biomarkers and coronary artery involvement. Adolescent patients were more likely to present with headache, dizziness and fatigue, with superior mesenteric artery, carotid artery involvement and celiac trunk artery stenosis.

  • Clinical manifestations and vascular involvement of childhood-onset Takayasu arteritis differ across age groups.

  • The clinical manifestations of childhood-onset Takayasu arteritis lack specificity. The age-specific patterns identified in this study may provide clues for early diagnosis.

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Data availability

The dataset analyzed for the current study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was supported by Beijing Research Ward Excellence Program (BRWEP2024W102100100).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yingjie Xu, Congying Wang.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Jianming Lai, Xiaohui Li.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology, Children’s Hospital Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China

    Yingjie Xu, Min Kang, Jia Zhu, Gaixiu Su, Dan Zhang, Tong Yue, Ming Li & Jianming Lai

  2. Department of Cardiology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics-Peking University Teaching Hospital, Beijing, China

    Congying Wang & Xiaohui Li

  3. Department of Cardiology, Children’s Hospital Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China

    Congying Wang & Xiaohui Li

  4. Evidence-Based Medicine Center, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China

    Wenquan Niu

  5. Department of Rheumatology, Wuhan Children’s Hospital, Wuhan, China

    Fan Liu

  6. Department of Pediatrics, Affiliated Hospital of Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China

    Baoping He

  7. Department of Pediatrics, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

    Weihong Chu

  8. Department of Pediatrics, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, China

    Lian Wang

  9. Department of Pediatrics, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China

    Xue Zhao

Authors
  1. Yingjie Xu
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  2. Congying Wang
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  3. Wenquan Niu
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  4. Min Kang
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  14. Ming Li
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  16. Xiaohui Li
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Contributions

Y.X., C.W., X.L., and J.L. conceived the study. M.K., J.Z., F.L., B.H., W.C., L.W., X.Z., G.S., D.Z., T.Y, and M.L. contributed to patient management. Y.X. and J.L. supervised patient management. YT and ML collected data. Y.X., C.W., and W.N. contributed to methodology. C.W. and W.N. performed the data analysis. Y.X. and C.W. wrote the first draft of the manuscript. X.L. and J.L. critically revised the manuscript. All the authors approved the final version of the manuscript submitted for publication and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jianming Lai or Xiaohui Li.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics (SHERLLM 2021051). Written informed consents obtained from patients or guardians.

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Xu, Y., Wang, C., Niu, W. et al. Age specific clinical manifestations and vascular involvements in childhood-onset Takayasu arteritis. Pediatr Res (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-025-04424-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-025-04424-z

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