Relation of Left Ventricular Mass to Prognosis in Initially Asymptomatic Mild to Moderate Aortic Valve Stenosis.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic importance of left ventricular (LV) mass in nonsevere asymptomatic aortic stenosis has not been documented in a large prospective study. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cox regression analysis was used to assess the impact of echocardiographic LV mass on rate of major cardiovascular events in 1656 patients (mean age, 67 years; 39.6% women) with mild-to-moderate asymptomatic aortic stenosis participating in the Simvastatin Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) study. Patients were followed during 4.3 years of randomized treatment with combined simvastatin 40 mg and ezetimibe 10 mg daily or placebo. At baseline, LV mass index was 45.9+14.9 g/m(2.7), and peak aortic jet velocity was 3.09+0.54 m/s. During follow-up, 558 major cardiovascular events occurred. In Cox regression analyses, 1 SD (15 g/m(2.7)) higher baseline LV mass index predicted increases in hazards of 12% for major cardiovascular events, 28% for ischemic cardiovascular events, 34% for cardiovascular mortality, and 23% for combined total mortality and hospitalization for heart failure (all P<0.01), independent of confounders. In time-varying models, taking the progressive increase in LV mass index during follow-up into account, 1 SD higher in-study LV mass index was consistently associated with 13% to 61% higher hazard for cardiovascular events (all P<0.01), independent of age, sex, body mass index, valvuloarterial impedance, LV ejection fraction and concentricity, and the presence of concomitant hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Higher LV mass index is independently associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality during progression of aortic stenosis. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00092677.

Impact of obesity and nonobesity on grading the severity of aortic valve stenosis.

We tested the hypothesis that the disproportionate increase of body surface area in obesity may lead to the overestimation of aortic stenosis (AS) severity when the aortic valve area (AVA) is indexed (AVAI) for body surface area in 1,524 patients enrolled in the Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in AS study. Obesity was defined as a body mass index of ≥30 kg/m(2). Peak aortic jet velocity, mean aortic gradient, AVA, and energy loss (EL) did not differ, although AVAI and EL indexed (ELI) for body surface area were significantly smaller in the obese group (n = 321) compared with the nonobese (n = 1,203) group (both p <0.05). Severe AS by AVAI (<0.6 cm(2)/m(2)) but nonsevere by AVA (>1.0 cm(2); AVAI/AVA discordance) was found in 15% of the patients, whereas severe AS by ELI (<0.6 cm(2)/m(2)) but nonsevere by EL (>1.0 cm(2); ELI/EL discordance) was found in 9% of the patients. Obesity was associated with a 2.4-fold higher prevalence of AVAI/AVA discordance and a 1.6-fold higher prevalence of ELI/EL discordance. Discordant grading was also associated with male gender, larger body size, higher mean aortic gradient, and stroke volume (all p <0.05). During a median follow-up of 4.3 years, 419 patients were referred for aortic valve replacement and 177 patients died or were hospitalized because of heart failure. In the Cox regression analyses, AVAI/AVA discordance was associated with a 28% higher rate of aortic valve replacement (p <0.05) but did not predict the rate of combined death and hospitalization for heart failure. In conclusion, using AVAI and ELI for the grading of stenosis in patients with obesity may lead to overestimation of true AS severity.

Effect of overweight and obesity on cardiovascular events in asymptomatic aortic stenosis: a SEAS substudy (Simvastatin Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis).

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether overweight and obesity impacted outcome in patients with aortic valve stenosis (AS). BACKGROUND: Increased body mass index (BMI) is a strong predictor of higher cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality in the general population but not among patients undergoing heart surgery. METHODS: Cardiovascular events in 1,664 patients with initially asymptomatic AS were recorded during a mean of 4.3 years of follow-up in the SEAS (Simvastatin Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis) study. Patients were grouped according to baseline BMI class. RESULTS: Overweight (n = 737) and obese patients (n = 334) had higher prevalence of hypertension, more abnormal left ventricular geometry, and lower stress-corrected midwall shortening throughout the study compared with normal weight patients (all p < 0.01). The AS progression rate did not differ between BMI classes. In univariate Cox regression, overweight was associated with a 17% to 22% lower rate of AS-related (p = 0.04) and ischemic CV events (p = 0.05). In multivariate analyses, adjusting for AS severity and differences in baseline characteristics, overweight had no significant influence on the rate of ischemic CV or AS-related events, whereas overweight and obesity had 46% and 67% higher rate of total mortality and 42% and 69% higher rate of combined hospital stay for heart failure and death from any cause, respectively, compared with normal weight patients (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with initially asymptomatic AS participating in the SEAS study, overweight and obesity did not influence AS progression or rate of AS-related or ischemic CV events but were both associated with increased mortality.