VIEW AN ABSTRACT

Background: Calcified aortic valve stenosis is a chronic progressive disease. Clinical factors that may be related to disease progression remain a matter of discussion. We hypothesize that cardiovascular risk factors may influence progression of valve disease. Objective: To describe and compare baseline characteristics of patient with severe symptomatic AS with and without a history of myocardial infarction (MI). Methods and Results: Study population consisted of eight hundred seventy-eight consecutive patients who underwent cardiac catheterization because of symptomatic AS. Patients were divided into two groups: with previous MI (n = 165) and without a history of MI (813). Baseline patient characteristics were recorded and analysed. Patients with previous MI were older (mean age 77 vs 72, p < 0.0001), had more often history of hypertension (81.8% vs 69.7%, p = 0.002), diabetes mellitus (44.8% vs 31.7%, p = 0.001) and chronic renal failure (13.9% vs 6.76%, p 0.002). There was no significant difference in mean BMI, history of dyslipidemia, cigarette smoking and stroke between the two groups. Conclusion: Concurrent history of severe AS and history of MI is uncommon. Cardiovascular risk factors did not accelerate progression of calcific degeneration of aortic valve. Patients with AS and history of MI were symptomatic at significantly older age in comparison to patients with AS and without previous MI.