Mitral-valve prolapse and its adverse sequelae are less prevalent in the general community than previously reported in referral-based studies.
In a community based sample of the population, the prevalence of mitral-valve prolapse was lower than previously reported. The prevalence of adverse sequelae commonly associated with mitral-valve prolapse in studies of patients referred for that diagnosis was also low.
Freed et al. (1999) studied this question.