Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Outcomes During the Public Health Emergency Flexibility Period

To compare transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) outcomes during the period when public health emergency (PHE) flexibilities were in place with outcomes during a period before they were introduced.

Patients who received a native TAVR with either a SAPIEN 3 or SAPIEN 3 Ultra valve from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry between June 22, 2019, and August 30, 2022, were placed into one of two cohorts: (1) pre-PHE cohort, and (2) peri-PHE cohort. Outcomes included in-hospital events and events occurring 30 days post-TAVR. Patients were matched 1:1 on their propensity of receiving a TAVR during the pre- or peri-PHE periods. After matching, relative risk was calculated for each in-hospital outcome and HRs for outcomes 30 days post-TAVR.

In this study, 173,434 patients met inclusion criteria; after 1:1 matching, there were 37,063 patients in each cohort. There was no difference between cohorts in in-hospital outcomes, including all-cause mortality, stroke, composite of mortality and stroke, pacemaker, or major vascular complications. Similarly, there was no statistically significant difference in 30-day outcomes between the cohorts.

In this large-scale retrospective study of 74,126 patients undergoing TAVR procedures from 2019 to 2022, no significant differences existed in TAVR outcomes during the PHE period.