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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 3, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Long-term exposure to elevated blood pressure (BP) is associated with increased risk for aortic valve stenosis (AS) and aortic regurgitation (AR), according to a study published online Sept. 12 in the European Heart Journal<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Kazem Rahimi, D.M., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a cohort study involving 5.4 million U.K. patients with no known cardiovascular disease or aortic disease at baseline to examine the correlation between BP and risk for incident AS and AR.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that 0.38 and 0.12 percent of patients, respectively, were diagnosed with AS and AR over a median follow-up of 9.2 years. There was a continuous relationship between systolic BP and the risk for AS and AR, with no evidence of a nadir down to 115 mmHg; for each 20-mmHg increment, the risks for AS and AR increased by 41 and 38 percent, respectively. In younger patients, the associations were stronger; no strong evidence was seen for interaction by gender or body mass index. The risk for AS increased by 24 percent with each 10-mmHg increment in diastolic BP; there was no change in AR risk. Each 15-mmHg increment in pulse pressure correlated with 46 and 53 percent increased risks for AS and AR, respectively.<\/p>\n
“The possible causal nature of the observed associations warrants further investigation,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
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