The epidemiology of prosthetic heart valves in the United States

The Center for Devices and Radiological Health of the Food and Drug Administration, in collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics, conducted the Medical Device Implant Supplement to the 1988 National Health Interview Survey, generating the 1st available population-based estimates of the use of prosthetic heart valves in the United States. The 1988 National Health Interview Survey was a massive, nationally representative cross-sectional survey that encompassed 47,485 households and 122,310 individuals. Data from the Medical Device Implant Supplement indicate that an estimated 253,283 persons with 279,175 heart valves were present in the civilian, non-institutionalized US population (population prevalence of 1.1/1,000, 95% CI 0.8-1.3). Prevalence of valve prostheses ranged from 0.2 per 1,000 in those age 44 and under to 5.3 per 1,000 in those 75 years of age and older. Age-adjusted prevalence of valve prostheses did not differ significantly according to sex, race, region of residence, education, or income of recipients. Two thirds of aortic valve recipients identified by the survey were male, compared with only one third of mitral valve recipients. Approximately two thirds of both aortic and mitral valve implants were reported as mechanical. Reported use of anticoagulative agents was significantly more common in recipients of mechanical than of bioprosthetic valves. The single most common reported reason for prosthetic valve implantation was rheumatic heart disease. These data provide useful epidemiologic and public health planning information on prosthetic heart valve use.