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. 2018 Dec;26(4):229-237.
doi: 10.4250/jcvi.2018.26.e27. Epub 2018 Dec 21.

Statins Have No Role in Preventing the Progression of Aortic Valve Sclerosis

Jeong-Hun Seo  1 , Kwang-Jin Chun  2 , Bong-Ki Lee  2 , Byung-Ryul Cho  2 , Dong Ryeol Ryu  2
Affiliations

Statins Have No Role in Preventing the Progression of Aortic Valve Sclerosis

Jeong-Hun Seo et al. J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Statins are thought to have little effect on the progression of aortic stenosis, but the data on their role in patients with aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) are limited and inconsistent.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 541 consecutive patients (214 men, age: 70 ± 11 years) with AVS. Each patient underwent two or more electrocardiography examinations at least 6 months apart at Kangwon National University Hospital from August 2010 to August 2015. AVS is defined as irregular thickening of the leaflets, focal increases in echogenicity and minimal elevation of the peak aortic valve velocity (> 1.5 and < 2 m/s). The progression rate of AVS was expressed as the increase in peak velocity per year (m/s/yr).

Results: The mean follow-up duration was 24.9 ± 13.3 months in the statin-treated group and 24.1 ± 12.4 months in the non-statin-treated group (p = 0.460). There were no differences between the statin-treated and non-statin-treated groups in mean age, gender or smoking status. Relative to the non-statin-treated group, a higher number of patients in the statin-treated group had hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and stroke. The progression rate of AVS did not differ between the statin-treated and non-statin-treated groups (0.012 ± 0.340 m/s/yr vs. 0.014 ± 0.245 m/s/yr, p = 0.956). Multivariate analysis showed initial peak aortic jet velocity was significantly associated with AVS progression (β = 0.153, p = 0.009).

Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that statins had no effect on the progression of AVS. However, well-designed studies are needed to define the prognosis and management of AVS.

Keywords: Aortic valve sclerosis; Statin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no financial conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Patient flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Peak aortic jet velocity rate of progression: with or without statin treatment in all study patients (A); with or without statin treatment in patients who were followed up for more than 1 year (B); with or without statin treatment in patients who were followed up for more than 2 years (C); and according to changes in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (D). Bars are the mean ± SD.
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