Sudhakar Jha
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Written By: Sudhakar Jha | Published : September 13, 2018 11:56 PM IST
The findings suggest that controlling blood pressure, even at levels below the hypertension threshold of 140/90, can help in preventing the conditions © Shutterstock
A recent study from the researchers of European Society of Cardiology has established a connect between long-term problem of high blood pressure and an increased risk of aortic valve disease (AVD) AVD is the heart problem where the valve that controls the blood pump from the left ventricle of the heart out into the main artery, the aorta doesn't function properly.
In this study, researchers found that above a systolic blood pressure of 115 mmHg, every additional 20 mmHg was associated with a 41 per cent greater risk of aortic stenosis (AS) and a 38 per cent higher risk of aortic regurgitation (AR) in later half of the life.
When compared to people who had a systolic blood pressure of 120 mmHg or lower, those with a systolic blood pressure of 161 mmHg or higher had more than double the risk of being diagnosed with AS and were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with AR in follow-ups.
The findings, published in the journal European Heart, suggest that controlling blood pressure, even at levels below the hypertension threshold of 140/90, can help in preventing the conditions.
For the study, 5.4 million people, between 30 to 90 years of age, were examined and during the average follow-up of more than nine years, 20,680 patients were diagnosed with AS alone and 6,440 were diagnosed with AR alone. The average age at the time of diagnosis was 64 years and 57 years for AS and AR respectively. Interestingly, none of the patients had any known heart or blood vessel diseases at the time of their earliest blood pressure measurement.
The study showed that serious valvular heart diseases that were common in old age were not simply due to aging. Long-term exposure to higher blood pressure was a strong and potentially modifiable risk factor for aortic stenosis and regurgitation at every level of typical blood pressure. They team said that blood pressure should be considered as a major risk factor for aortic valve disease. And they added that the associations are causal, but further confirmation is required.
