(Circulation. 1999;99:1851-1857.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.
Clinical Investigation and Reports |
Mortality and Morbidity of Aortic Regurgitation in Clinical Practice
A Long-Term Follow-Up Study
From the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine (K.S.D., M.E.-S., J.B.S., A.J.T.), Section of Cardiovascular Surgery (H.V.S.), and the Section of Biostatistics (K.R.B.), Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minn.
Correspondence to Maurice Enriquez-Sarano, MD, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905.
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Abstract |
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Background—The outcome of aortic regurgitation conservatively followed in clinical practice is poorly defined.
Methods and Results—Long-term outcome of 246 patients with severe
or moderately severe aortic regurgitation diagnosed by
color Doppler echocardiography was
analyzed. With conservative management, mortality rate was
higher than expected (at 10 years, 34±5%, P<0.001)
and morbidity was high (10-year rates of 47±6% for heart failure and
62±4% for aortic valve surgery). At 10 years, 75±3% of patients had
died or had surgery and 83±3% had had cardiovascular
events. In multivariate analysis, predictors of
survival were age (P<0.001), functional class
(P<0.001), comorbidity index (P=0.033),
atrial fibrillation (P=0.002), and left
ventricular end-systolic diameter corrected for
body surface area (P=0.025). Ejection fraction was also
an independent predictor of overall survival, including postoperative
follow-up of surgically treated patients (P<0.001).
High risk during conservative treatment, with mortality rate in excess
of that expected, was noted among patients with severe, even transient,
symptoms (24.6% yearly, P<0.001) but also in those
with mild (class II) symptoms (6.3% yearly, P=0.02) and
in asymptomatic patients with left ventricular
ejection fraction <55% (5.8% yearly, P=0.03) or with
end-systolic diameter normalized to body surface area 
25
mm/m2 (7.8% yearly, P=0.004). Surgery
performed during follow-up was independently associated with reduced
cardiovascular mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.54;
P=0.048).
Conclusions—Patients diagnosed with severe aortic regurgitation in clinical practice incur excess mortality and high morbidity, underscoring the serious prognosis of the disease. Surgery, which reduces cardiac mortality rates, should be considered promptly in high-risk patients.
Key Words: aorta • prognosis • regurgitation • surgery • survival
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Introduction |
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In patients with valvular heart disease, clinical decision making is based largely on the risk of mortality and morbidity incurred by patients conservatively treated,1 and in subsets of patients with excess mortality rates, an aggressive approach is often considered justified.
In patients with severe aortic regurgitation (AR), survival with conservative treatment is poorly defined.2 Previous studies of the natural history of AR reported variable mortality rates, ranging at 5 years between 2% and 62%.3 4 Such disparate results are due to selection biases, small populations, poorly defined degrees of AR, and the confounding effect of associated diseases5 and are difficult to reconcile and use for clinical decision making. Furthermore, the cohorts with low mortality rates included patients much younger3 6 7 than those treated in clinical practice,8 9 10 and the risk of excess mortality in comparison with expected survival is unknown.
Analysis of determinants of survival with conservative treatment is essential to define high-risk groups that require aggressive treatment. Although symptoms caused by AR improve after surgery8 11 and are widely accepted indications for surgery,12 13 14 their independent impact on outcome is unclear. Previous studies suggested that asymptomatic patients have a good outcome.3 7 However, uncertainty persists about the fate of patients with minimal symptoms15 and about subsets of asymptomatic patients who may be at high risk. Furthermore, the impact of left ventricular (LV) function at diagnosis on survival under conservative management is unclear. Therefore, the concept of surgical correction of AR indicated solely for alterations of LV function, although appealing,14 has been challenged12 13 because it is supported only by postoperative outcome results in mostly old series11 16 that recently have been contradicted.12 17 18
Because of their inherent selection criteria, the series on natural history of AR were either small4 19 20 21 or observed few deaths,3 7 22 lacked power, could not define predictors of survival, and provided limited information on morbidity in patients conservatively treated after the diagnosis of AR.3 4 6 19 20 21 22 These uncertainties are sources of doubt about which subsets of patients may benefit most from an aggressive surgical approach8 or from treatment with vasodilators.23 24
These limitations can be addressed with Doppler echocardiography, which allows comprehensive assessment of LV function25 and degree of AR26 and offers the unique opportunity to define a large cohort of patients diagnosed with severe or moderately severe AR in routine clinical practice.
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Methods |
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The study patients were those in whom moderately severe (grade III/IV) or severe (grade IV/IV) AR was first diagnosed with color flow Doppler echocardiography26 between 1985 and 1994 at the Mayo Clinic. Exclusion criteria were aortic dissection, previous valve surgery, and associated mitral valve or congenital heart disease. Patients were not excluded on the basis of treatment received. Symptoms at baseline were those occurring within 1 month before diagnosis. The patients were not followed exclusively at our institution and received care by their attending physician. Information on events after diagnosis was obtained for all patients between February and July 1996. The events and cause of death were established by review of medical, coroner, and autopsy records and death certificates. Associated comorbid conditions at baseline were summated as a comorbidity index.5
Echocardiographic Methods
All measurements and gradations were collected in routine
clinical practice prospectively and transferred unaltered
electronically. The degree of AR was graded semiquantitatively by color
flow Doppler on a scale of 1+ to 4+.26 Cardiac
diameters were measured by 2-dimensional
echocardiography–guided M-mode and indexed to body
surface area. LV end-systolic wall stress27 and
ejection fraction (EF)25 28 were calculated.
Statistical Analysis
Continuous variables were expressed as mean±1 SD and
survival as observed±SE. After echocardiographic
diagnosis, the rates of events were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier
method and linearized yearly rates. For analysis of outcome
with medical treatment, patients operated on were censored at surgery,
but the entire follow-up was used to analyze the effect of
surgery on outcome. The 1-sample log-rank test was used to compare
survival with expected survival of the age- and sex-matched 1990 US
white population. Comparison of survival between subgroups of patients
was based on the k-sample log-rank test. Baseline predictors of outcome
were identified by proportional hazards regression analysis. To
determine the effect on survival of events occurring after diagnosis
(surgery, congestive heart failure), a time-dependent proportional
hazards analysis was performed within a
multivariate model that included the baseline
predictors of survival.
The impact of potential referral biases (geographical origin and comorbidity) was tested in multivariate analysis. The analysis was also repeated in patients who were not rapidly (within 1 month) referred to surgery or were initially in functional class I or II. A probability value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
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Results |
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Baseline Characteristics
The clinical characteristics of the 246 patients who met the inclusion criteria are listed in Table 1
. Among the 122 patients without
dyspnea (class I), 9 had angina or syncope; therefore, 113 were
strictly asymptomatic. The presumed cause of AR was
degenerative in 99 patients, congenital in 69, aortic root enlargement
(with or without aneurysm) in 46, rheumatic in 15, aortitis in
8, endocarditis in 7, and miscellaneous in 2. The AR was grade 3+ in
160 (65%) and grade 4+ in 86 (35%) and was confirmed in 61 (97%) of
63 patients undergoing aortography. Medications received for at least 6
months or the duration of medical follow-up included diuretics
in 89 patients, angiotensin-converting enzyme
inhibitors in 71, calcium channel blockers in 41,
hydralazine in 4, ß-blockers in 34, digoxin in 103, and none
of these in 73.
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Survival in Conservatively Managed Patients
The mean follow-up was 7±3 years (3.7±3.8 years for conservative
management) (Table 2). Of the 246
patients, 43 died during medical follow-up, and long-term survival was
worse than expected survival (P<0.001) (Figure 1). The cause of death was
cardiovascular in 33 patients (intractable heart
failure in 20, sudden death in 6, cerebral thromboembolism or
hemorrhage in 3, and aortic dissection in 4) and noncardiac in
10. Cardiac deaths at 5 and 10 years were 18%±3% and 27%±5%,
respectively.
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In multivariate analysis (Table 3), the baseline variables
independently predictive of survival with medical treatment were age,
New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, comorbidity, LV
systolic dimension corrected for body surface area (LVS/BSA),
and atrial fibrillation.
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Symptoms were major predictors of survival (Table 3
and Figure 2). Survival was significantly lower in
symptomatic than in asymptomatic patients
(P<0.001). Among patients in class III or IV at baseline,
46 (77%) of 60 ultimately underwent surgery, but 14 remained medically
treated because of refusal of surgery (4 patients) or high risk (1
patient) and because functional improvement occurred with treatment in
all patients. Despite this improvement, survival was dismal (yearly
mortality rate 24.6%), worse than expected survival
(P<0.001), and worse than survival of patients in class I
or II (P<0.001). Patients with mild dyspnea (class II) had
survival worse than that of patients in class I (P=0.04) and
displayed excess mortality rates compared with expected survival (6.3%
yearly, P=0.02). In these patients, 10 (83%) of 12 deaths
were cardiac. The 10-year mortality tended to exceed expected
mortality, but the difference did not reach statistical significance in
patients without dyspnea (class I) (25%±5%, P=0.38) or in
strictly asymptomatic patients (24%±5%,
P=0.37).
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LV measurements at baseline were also predictive of survival. EF and
LVS/BSA were the only independent predictors of survival. Excess
mortality rate compared with expected rate was observed with EF <50%
(at 10 years, 74%±10%, P<0.001) and with EF of 50% to
55% (at 10 years, 35%±12%, P=0.039). Patients with EF
55% had a lower mortality rate (P<0.001), not different
from expected (at 10 years, 22%±5%, P=0.73). Survival
with conservative management stratified according to LVS/BSA (with a
threshold of 25 mm/m2) is presented
in Figure 3. However, in
multivariate analysis, LVS/BSA was the
strongest predictor of survival with conservative management (Table 3, model 1), whereas EF was the strongest predictor of overall
survival, including postsurgical survival (Table 3, model 3).
Asymptomatic patients with EF <55% or with LVS/BSA
25 mm/m2 had excess mortality rates
compared with those without these LV characteristics
(P=0.022 and P<0.001, respectively) and compared
with expected survival (P=0.03 and P=0.004,
respectively) (Table 2).
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Morbidity in Medically Treated Patients
The morbidity in medically treated patients is noted in Table 2 and Figure 4. Predictors of
heart failure are noted Table 3. Heart failure was associated
with high subsequent mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 15.4 [95% CI
7.5 to 31.8]; P<0.001). Vascular complications occurred in
13 patients (thromboembolism in 9 and aortic dissection in 4) after
diagnosis of AR (1.5% yearly) (Figure 4).
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Aortic Valve Surgery
Surgery was performed in 132 patients (110 at our institution and
22 elsewhere). Indications for surgery were determined by attending
physicians and were symptom class III or IV in 84 patients (dyspnea in
79, angina pectoris in 5), asymptomatic LV dysfunction in
17 or enlargement in 8, aortic aneurysm in 14, infective
endocarditis in 5, and physician's preference in 4. Coronary
angiography was performed in 95 patients and coronary bypass
grafting in 24. Operative mortality was 3.8% (5/132). The cumulative
likelihood (Figure 4) of aortic valve surgery and combined end
points are noted in Table 2.
Analysis of the effect of surgery on survival showed that
in a time-dependent multivariate analysis,
after adjustments for age, EF, and symptoms at baseline, surgery during
follow-up was associated with a trend toward reduction of overall
mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 0.69; P=0.20) and a
significant reduction of cardiovascular mortality
(adjusted hazard ratio 0.54 [95% CI 0.23 to 0.99];
P=0.048) (Table 3, model 4).
Effect of Referral Patterns on Outcome
The local or distant referral had no independent effect on outcome
(P=0.72). The comorbidity was low, indicating that the
choice of medical rather than surgical treatment was motivated
primarily by cardiac status and not by excessive comorbidity.
Among the 187 patients who were not rapidly referred for surgery (within 1 month after diagnosis), the 10-year incidences of surgery and of surgery or death were 51%±5% and 67%±4%, respectively. Among the 186 patients initially in class I or II, the 10-year incidences of heart failure, surgery, and surgery or death were 43%±6%, 55%±5%, and 68%±4%, respectively, showing that even in these patients high complication rates are present.
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Discussion |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethodsResultsDiscussionReferences |
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In this study, after the diagnosis of severe AR, patients followed conservatively in clinical practice incur (1) excess mortality compared with expected, directly related to cardiac disease; (2) excess mortality in patients with severe symptoms even transient, but also in patients with mild, class II symptoms; (3) excess mortality rate even in patients asymptomatic with EF <55% or LVS/BSA
25 mm/m2; and (4) high
cardiovascular morbidity; but (5) surgical
treatment during follow-up is associated significantly with reduced
cardiovascular mortality rate.
Death Associated With Severe AR
The natural history of severe AR is poorly defined, with widely
disparate reported estimates of long-term survival. Survival rates at
10 years after diagnosis were 96%,3 80%,6
76%,20 62%,29 and 50%.21
Other series reported survival at 8 years as low as 32%4
or, at 5 years, between 66%30 and <20%.19
This wide range of reported survival is difficult to reconcile to
provide guidelines for routine practice. This considerable variability
in mortality rates may be due to small
populations,4 19 20 21 29 30 variable20 or
ill-defined6 19 21 29 degrees of AR, and associated
comorbidity.5 However, selection bias appears to be an
essential reason for this variability. In observational
studies,4 19 29 particularly those including patients
after catheterization,4 high mortality
rates were observed. Conversely, in studies enrolling patients
volunteering for prospective follow-up, patients were much
younger3 7 15 22 31 than those treated in clinical
practice,8 9 10 and barely any cardiac or noncardiac death
was observed. This extremely low mortality rate of cohort
studies,3 7 15 22 31 much lower than expected mortality
rate in the general population, is probably due to the "healthy
volunteer effect." Such limitations warrant analysis of the
risk of death incurred by patients who in routine clinical practice are
diagnosed with severe AR. Furthermore, recommendations for
surgery3 8 13 are not based on natural history studies, in
which predictors of survival could not be defined because of small
populations4 19 20 21 29 30 or very low death
rates.3 22
In the present study, patients diagnosed with severe AR in routine clinical practice incurred, while conservatively managed, excess mortality rates compared with expected, underlining the severity of this condition. This excess mortality rate was not randomly distributed, and independent predictors of survival allow prognostic stratification.
Symptoms were major determinants of survival. Dyspnea class III-IV is an accepted indication for surgery3 13 because of symptomatic improvement after surgery.8 11 Such symptoms, even if transient and relieved by medical treatment, without surgical intervention are associated with a dismal outcome.20 32 Therefore, clinicians should not be deceived by functional improvements and delay the operation. The outcome with mild, class II symptoms has not been clearly defined3 6 15 20 22 but is characterized by excess mortality rates of cardiovascular causes. Therefore, these patients should be considered at high risk and promptly be offered surgical correction of AR, which provides an excellent long-term outcome.18 Even strictly asymptomatic patients display excess mortality rates in subsets defined by LV size and function.
In AR followed conservatively, LV size has been associated with
progression of symptoms,3 15 22 but the impact of LV
characteristics on survival is uncertain. Their role in the surgical
indications has been based on postoperative outcome. Conflicting
results showing significant10 11 16 or no
significant12 13 17 33 relation to postoperative survival
have been reported, and the concept of surgical indications based
purely on LV alterations14 has been
challenged.12 13 In the present study, LVS/BSA and EF
were independent determinants of survival. Of note, the uncorrected LVS
was a weaker predictor of outcome than the corrected
value.33 34 Although both LVS/BSA and EF are powerful
predictors of outcome, the former appears stronger with persistent
volume overload under conservative management (Table 3, model
1). Conversely, EF is stronger when postsurgical survival is included
(Table 3, model 3), with a large proportion of patients with
volume overload relieved by valve replacement. Patients with LVS/BSA
25 mm/m2 or EF <55%, even if
asymptomatic, have a follow-up mortality rate higher than
expected and higher than without these LV abnormalities. These patients
should be considered at high risk and evaluated for prompt surgical
intervention.
Another important result of the present study is the benefit of surgery performed during follow-up, with a trend toward reduction of total mortality rates and significant reduction of cardiac mortality rates. Short of results from a randomized trial, yet to be conducted, this effect strongly supports surgical indications in subgroups demonstrating excess mortality rates with conservative management.
Follow-Up Events Associated With Severe AR
Cardiac morbidity was also high in the present study, with a
10-year incidence of congestive heart failure of 47%±6% overall and
43%±6% in patients initially in NYHA class I or II. This progression
of symptoms is independently determined by LVS/BSA at
baseline,3 22 which is another reason to include this
variable in risk stratification. Ten years after the diagnosis, low
incidences of endocarditis and new atrial fibrillation are observed,
but 15% of patients incur vascular complications, 75% either die or
undergo surgical treatment,20 and 83% have a fatal or
nonfatal cardiovascular event. High morbidity in
addition to excess mortality should alert clinicians to the serious
prognosis of severe AR, and surgery should promptly be considered on
the basis of the patient's condition at the time of diagnosis.
Methodology of the Study
A natural history study of AR, with medical and surgical
treatments withheld, is not conceivable. Conversely, the design of this
study allows determination of mortality and morbidity incurred while
surgery is deferred. Deferral was motivated not by poor operative risk
but mostly by paucity of symptoms, making these results relevant to
routine practice.
Vasodilators have been shown to favorably affect LV remodeling24 and to delay surgery23 but have not been shown to improve survival of patients with severe AR.1 In the present study, there was no association between medications received and survival. Without a randomized trial, the effect of surgery on survival is uncertain, but it appears, adjusting for baseline characteristics, to decrease cardiovascular mortality rates.
The LV diameters and EF were measured by echocardiography, were used as originally calculated, and were strong predictors of outcome.10 The grading of AR by color flow Doppler has also been validated26 ; the diagnosis of severe AR was confirmed in 97% of patients undergoing aortography, and all the patients operated on had severe lesions. Therefore, these methods do not represent a limitation of the present study.
The study was not a cohort prospectively followed up but rather a study in clinical practice of patients diagnosed with severe AR. The disadvantage of this design is that progression of LV remodeling cannot be analyzed. The advantages of this design are that the healthy participant bias is avoided and the mortality and morbidity observed are applicable to routine practice. Adjustment for geographic origin, for coexisting conditions, and for direct referrals for surgery did not affect the results, and referral bias is of low likelihood.
Conclusions and Clinical Implications
Severe AR diagnosed in clinical practice is a serious condition
complicated both by excess mortality and high morbidity. Within 10
years after diagnosis, 75% of the patients had either died or required
aortic valve replacement and 83% had a cardiac event.
Patients at high risk under conservative management include those
with (1) severe symptoms, even transient and improved by
treatment; (2) mild, class II symptoms; (3) EF <55% or LVS/BSA
25 mm/m2 with or without symptoms; or
(4) atrial fibrillation. Because surgery during follow-up is
associated significantly with reduced cardiac mortality rates, these
patients should promptly be considered for surgical correction of
AR.
Conversely, strictly asymptomatic patients with an EF
55% and LVS/BSA <25 mm/m2 incurred a
10-year mortality rate between 14% and 17%, not significantly
different from expected (P>0.80) and form the only subgroup
at relatively low risk. The identification among these patients of
subsets at higher risk, based on predictors of other events such as
sudden death or aortic dissection, will require larger populations in
future studies. Currently, in these patients, it appears reasonable to
defer surgery and consider vasodilators, which may retard LV
remodeling24 and surgery.23 Therefore,
the present study is in agreement with the elective approach to
surgery3 but defines new criteria for patients at high
risk requiring surgery, based on excess mortality rates under
conservative treatment.
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Acknowledgments |
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Dr Dujardin was supported by a fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation. The authors thank Julie Wilson for excellent help with data analysis.
Received September 10, 1998; revision received December 16, 1998; accepted December 30, 1998.
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