Five-year epidemiological survey of valvular heart disease: changes in morbidity, etiological spectrum and management in a cardiovascular center of Southern China

• Published in: Journal of thoracic disease 2014-12, Vol.6 (12), p.1724-1730
• Main Authors: Liu, Fang-Zhou, Xue, Yu-Mei, Liao, Hong-Tao, Zhan, Xian-Zhang, Guo, Hui-Ming, Huang, Huan-Lei, Fang, Xian-Hong, Wei, Wei, Rao, Fang, Deng, Hai, Liu, Yang, Lin, Wei-Dong, Wu, Shu-Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original
• ISSN: 2072-1439; 2077-6624
• DOI: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2014.11.21

The objective of the present study is to analyze the epidemiological profile of patients with abnormal valvular structure and function and highlight the etiological spectrum and management of valvular heart disease (VHD) in a single cardiovascular center of Southern China in five years. The retrospective study included 19,428 consecutive patients (9,441 men and 9,987 women with a mean age of 52.03±20.50 years) with abnormal valvular structure and function who were screened by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) or transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) at the in-patient department of Guangdong General Hospital from January 2009 to December 2013. Data on baseline characteristics, potential etiology, treatment strategies and discharge outcomes were collected from electronic medical records. There were 13,549 (69.7%) patients with relatively definite etiology for VHD. VHD was rheumatic in 7,197 (37.0%) patients, congenital in 2,697 (13.9%), degenerative in 2,241 (11.5%), ischemic in 2,460 (12.7%). The prevalence decreased significantly in rheumatic VHD from 2009 to 2013 (from 42.8% to 32.8%, P