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. 2021 Jul 13;21(1):339.
doi: 10.1186/s12872-021-02154-8.

Current status and etiology of valvular heart disease in China: a population-based survey

Ying Yang  1 , Zengwu Wang  2 , Zuo Chen  1 , Xin Wang  1 , Linfeng Zhang  1 , Suning Li  1 , Congyi Zheng  1 , Yuting Kang  1 , Linlin Jiang  1 , Zhenhui Zhu  3 , Runlin Gao  4
Affiliations

Current status and etiology of valvular heart disease in China: a population-based survey

Ying Yang et al. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. .

Abstract

Background: The epidemiology of valvular heart disease (VHD) has changed markedly over the last 50 years worldwide, and the prevalence and features of VHD in China are unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the current status and etiology of VHD in China.

Methods: We used a cross-sectional national survey with stratified multistage random sampling from the general Chinese population to estimate the VHD burden. Data on demographic characteristics, medical history, physical examination, blood tests, and potential etiology were collected. Echocardiography was used to detect VHD.

Results: The national survey enrolled 34,994 people aged 35 years or older across China. Overall, 31,499 people were included in the final analysis, and 1309 participants were diagnosed with VHD. The weighted prevalence was 3.8%, with an estimated 25 million patients in China. The prevalence of VHD increased with age and was higher in participants with hypertension or chronic kidney disease than in their counterparts. Among participants with VHD, 55.1% were rheumatic and 21.3% were degenerative. The proportion of rheumatic decreased with age, and the proportion of degenerative rose with age. However, the prevalence of rheumatic disease was still higher in the elderly population than in the younger population. Logistic regression revealed that age and hypertension were correlated with VHD.

Conclusions: In China, rheumatic heart disease was still the major cause of the VHD, with a significant increase in degenerative heart disease. Age and hypertension are important and easily identifiable markers of VHD.

Keywords: China; Degenerative; Prevalence; Rheumatic; Valvular heart disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The proportions of etiologies of valvular heart disease according to age (The related dataset were seen in Additional file 1: Table S2). CA = congenital anomaly; VR = valve replacement
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The prevalences of VHD due to the two common etiologies in different gender and age. The prevalence were reported as number × 10–3 without weight
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Factors related to valvular heart disease calculated by logistic regression (BMI = body mass index)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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