J Cardiovasc Imaging.  2023 Jan;31(1):51-61. 10.4250/jcvi.2022.0076.

Epidemiologic Profile of Patients With Valvular Heart Disease in Korea: A Nationwide Hospital-Based Registry Study

• Choi YJ
• Son JW
• Kim EK
• Kim IC
• Kim HY
• Seo JS
• Sun BJ
• Shim CY
• Yoon SJ
• Lee S
• Lee SH
• Park JB
• Kang DH

• KMID: 2539246
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4250/jcvi.2022.0076

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Valvular heart disease (VHD) is a common cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide; however, its epidemiological profile in Korea requires elucidation.
METHODS
In this nationwide retrospective cohort study from the Korean valve survey, which collected clinical and echocardiographic data on VHD from 45 medical centers, we identified 4,089 patients with VHD between September and October 2019.
RESULTS
The aortic valve was the most commonly affected valve (n = 1,956 [47.8%]), followed by the mitral valve (n = 1,598 [39.1%]) and tricuspid valve (n = 1,172 [28.6%]). There were 1,188 cases of aortic stenosis (AS) and 926 cases of aortic regurgitation. The most common etiology of AS was degenerative disease (78.9%). The proportion of AS increased with age and accounted for the largest proportion of VHD in patients aged 80–89 years. There were 1,384 cases of mitral regurgitation (MR) and 244 cases of mitral stenosis (MS). The most common etiologies for primary and secondary MR were degenerative disease (44.3%) and non-ischemic heart disease (63.0%), respectively, whereas rheumatic disease (74.6%) was the predominant cause of MS. There were 1,172 tricuspid regurgitation (TR) cases, of which 46.9% were isolated and 53.1% were associated with other valvular diseases, most commonly with MR. The most common type of TR was secondary (90.2%), while primary accounted for 6.1%.
CONCLUSIONS
This report demonstrates the current epidemiological status of VHD in Korea. The results of this study can be used as fundamental data for developing Korean guidelines for VHD.

Keyword

Valvular heart diseases; Epidemiology; Korea