Reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction in Patients With Aortic Stenosis

Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is reduced in a subset of patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS).

The authors sought to determine the temporal course of reduced LVEF, its predictors, and its impact on prognosis in severe AS.

Serial echocardiograms of 928 consecutive patients with first-time diagnosis of severe AS (aortic valve area [AVA] ≤1 cm²) who had at least 1 echocardiogram before the diagnosis were evaluated. A total of 3,684 echocardiograms (median 3 studies per patient) within the preceding 10 years were analyzed.

At the initial diagnosis, 196 (21%) patients had an LVEF <50% (35.1 ± 9.7%) and 732 (79%) had an LVEF ≥50% (64.2 ± 6.1%). LVEF deterioration had begun before AS became severe for those with an LVEF <50% and accelerated after AVA reached 1.2 cm², whereas mean LVEF remained >60% in patients with LVEF ≥50% at initial diagnosis. The strongest predictor for LVEF deterioration was LVEF <60% at 3 years before AS became severe (odds ratio: 0.86; 95% confidence interval: 0.83 to 0.89; p < 0.001). During the median follow-up of 3.3 years, mortality was significantly worse, not only for patients with an LVEF <50%, but for patients with an LVEF of 50% ≤ LVEF <60% compared with patients with an LVEF ≥60% even after aortic valve replacement (p < 0.001).

In patients with severe AS and reduced LVEF, a decline in LVEF began before AS became severe and accelerated after AVA reached 1.2 cm². LVEF <60% in the presence of moderate AS predicts further deterioration of LVEF and appears to represent abnormal LVEF in AS.