Key result
Aortic valve sclerosis was not associated with a significant difference in aortic pulse-wave velocity compared to matched controls without sclerosis (11.7 vs 11.8, P=0.85).
Why the study?
Is aortic valve sclerosis associated with increased aortic stiffness as measured by pulse-wave velocity in subjects free of clinically evident atherosclerotic disease?
Case-Control (n=124)
Is aortic valve sclerosis associated with increased aortic stiffness as measured by pulse-wave velocity in subjects free of clinically evident atherosclerotic disease?
Absolute Event Rate: 11.7% vs 11.8%
p-value: p=0.85
Aortic valve sclerosis is not associated with increased aortic stiffness (measured by pulse wave velocity) in patients without clinically evident atherosclerotic disease, suggesting AVS involves nonatherosclerotic processes.
Does not link aortic valve sclerosis to aortic stiffness without overt atherosclerosis; leaves open distinct mechanisms needing prospective validation.
BACKGROUND: Aortic stiffness is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events and mortality. The measurement of pulse-wave velocity (PWV) is the most simple, noninvasive, and robust method to determine aortic stiffness. Whether aortic stiffness contributes to aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between PWV and AVS in subjects free of clinically evident atherosclerotic disease. METHODS: We enrolled 62 patients (48 men; age 65 +/- 8 years) diagnosed with AVS and an additional 62 age-, hypertension-, diabetes mellitus-, and history of smoking-matched subjects without AVS. Applanation tonometry was applied to assess the augmentation index and aortic PWV. The subjects with symptomatic vascular disease were excluded from the study. AVS was defined by echocardiography as thickening and calcification of the normal trileaflet aortic valve without obstruction to the left ventricular outflow. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the aortic PWV and augmentation index (11.7+/-3.3 vs 11.8+/-3.7, P=0.85; 28.0+/-9.4 vs 25.0+/-8.6, P=0. 17, respectively). The presence of AVS was significantly correlated with ejection fraction (r=0.211, P=0.011), male gender (r=0.362, P=0.0001), and age (r=0.200, P=0.026). CONCLUSIONS: The lack of an association between the aortic PWV and AVS suggests that AVS is a complex phenomenon consisting of several distinct processes, related to both atherosclerotic and nonatherosclerotic processes.
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Çelik et al. (2008) conducted a case-control in Aortic Valve Sclerosis (n=124). Aortic valve sclerosis vs. Subjects without aortic valve sclerosis was evaluated on Aortic pulse-wave velocity (PWV) (p=0.85). Aortic valve sclerosis was not associated with a significant difference in aortic pulse-wave velocity compared to matched controls without sclerosis (11.7 vs 11.8, P=0.85).
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