Association of Aortic Valve Sclerosis and Clinical Factors in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

Since aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) and coronary artery disease (CAD) share similar cardiovascular risk factors, we hypothesized that the clinical profile of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) would be worse in the presence of AVS. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between AVS and clinical factors in patients with AMI. Three hundred and fifteen patients with AMI were consecutively enrolled in the study. Echocardiography was used to assess the aortic valve morphology and left ventricular function. The extent and severity of CAD were assessed by Gensini score and the number of obstructed vessels. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to presence or absence of AVS. The overall number of patients with AVS was 132 (41.9%). Patients with AVS were older (69.5 ± 11 vs. 59.5 ± 12 years, P < 0.00001). They also had a higher prevalence of hypertension (61% vs. 45%, P = 0.006), prior CAD (33% vs. 23%, P = 0.041), prior AMI (20% vs. 11%, P = 0.019) and a higher percentage were female (32% vs. 19%, P = 0.007) compared with AMI patients without AVS. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups with respect to the Gensini score (P = 0.372). Prior AMI was associated with AVS on age-adjusted logistic regression analyses. A multivariate analysis showed an independent association between the AVS and prior AMI and age (P < 0.0000001, P = 0.022, respectively). Our results showed that the presence of AVS is associated with AMI recurrence.