@article {9154, title = {The association of aortic valve sclerosis, aortic annulus increased reflectivity, and mitral annular calcification with subsequent aortic stenosis in older individuals. Findings from the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Soc Echocardiogr}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Sep 09}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: While aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) is well-described as preceding aortic stenosis (AS), the association of AS with antecedent mitral aortic annular calcification and aortic annulus increased reflectivity (MAC and AAIR, respectively) has not been characterized. In a population-based prospective study, we evaluated whether MAC, AAIR, and AVS are associated with the risk of incident AS.

METHODS: Among participants of the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) free of AS at the 1994-1995 visit, the presence of MAC, AAIR, AVS, and the combination of all three were evaluated in 3041 participants. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the association between the presence of calcification and the incidence of moderate/severe AS in three nested models adjusting for factors associated with atherosclerosis and inflammation both relevant to the pathogenesis of AS.

RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 11.5 years (IQR 6.7 to 17.0), 110 cases of incident moderate/severe AS were ascertained. Strong positive associations with incident moderate/severe AS were found for all calcification sites after adjustment for the main model covariates: AAIR (HR=2.90, 95\% CI=[1.95, 4.32], p<0.0005), AVS (HR=2.20, 95\% CI=[1.44, 3.37], p<0.0005), MAC (HR=1.67, 95\% CI=[1.14, 2.45], p=0.008), and the combination of MAC, AAIR, and AVS (HR=2.50, 95\% CI=[1.65, 3.78], p<0.0005). In a secondary analysis, the risk of AS increased with the number of sites at which calcification was present.

CONCLUSIONS: In a large cohort of community-dwelling elderly individuals, there were strong associations between each of AAIR, AVS, MAC, and the combination of MAC, AAIR, and AVS with incident moderate/severe AS. The novel finding that AAIR had a particularly strong association with incident AS, even after adjusting for other calcification sites, suggests its value in identifying individuals at risk for AS, and potential inclusion in the routine assessment by transthoracic echocardiography.

}, issn = {1097-6795}, doi = {10.1016/j.echo.2022.08.013}, author = {Barasch, Eddy and Gottdiener, John S and Tressel, William and Bartz, Traci M and B{\r u}zkov{\'a}, Petra and Massera, Daniele and DeFilippi, Christopher and Biggs, Mary L and Psaty, Bruce M and Kizer, Jorge R and Owens, David} }