Prevalence of Atherosclerosis Risk Factors in Patients with Aortic Stenosis

Background: Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular disease in adults with variable clinical course. Many recent studies have suggested that calcified aortic stenosis is related to the same risk factors as coronary artery disease (CAD). Therefore, in this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of risk factors for atherosclerosis among patients with AS. Methods and materials: Hospital records of 407 patients (age > 39 years in male and age > 44 years in female cases) with a diagnosis of AS who underwent aortic valve replacement between 2007 and 2012 were reviewed for the presence or absence of certain atherosclerotic risk factors at Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center. The patients with other valvular pathologies were excluded from the study. The results were analyzed statistically. Results: Totally, 110 patients (27%) were female and 297 cases (73%) were male at a mean age of 60.45±10.44 years. Based on the results, 169 cases (41.52%) had systemic hypertension (HTN), 92 (30.15%) had diabetes mellitus (DM), 143 (35.13%) had a history of high lipid profile with high levels of cholesterol, 189 (46.43%) had angiographic CAD, and 29.23% of the cases were cigarette smokers. Conclusion: Although the evaluated risk factors also have been correlated with atherosclerosis, other factors must be important for the development of AS because nearly 50% of our patients with AS also had CAD in our study. Therefore, more studies are required to be conducted in order to prove the association between the risk factors of AS and CAD