J Cardiovasc Imaging.  2018 Dec;26(4):229-237. 10.4250/jcvi.2018.26.e27.

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

• Seo JH
• Chun KJ
• Lee BK
• Cho BR
• Ryu DR

• KMID: 2429998
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4250/jcvi.2018.26.e27

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.

Keyword

Aortic valve sclerosis; Statin

MeSH Terms

Aortic Valve Stenosis
Aortic Valve*
Electrocardiography
Follow-Up Studies
Gangwon-do
Humans
Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors*
Hypertension
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Myocardial Ischemia
Prognosis
Retrospective Studies
Sclerosis*
Smoke
Smoking
Stroke
Smoke

Figure

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  Figure 1 Patient flowchart.

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  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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