New light on association between diabetes and heart valve disease

Medical Xpress / University of Gothenburg / Circulation ^ | June 9, 2022 | Araz Rawshani et al

[ConservativeMind]

Individuals with diabetes display a substantially increased risk of disease in left-sided heart valves compared to controls without diabetes. The statistical analyses also indicate that valvular heart disease can be prevented by lowering blood pressure and reducing other risk factors even more than current treatment targets.

Since the pressure is highest on the left side of the heart, valve disease most often affects these two valves. This may have two effects: The valves lose their suppleness and may no longer close or open sufficiently, and regurgitation (leakage) occurs, impairing the heart's pumping capacity.

Other research has shown that diabetes may exacerbate hardening of valves in the heart and in the rings attaching the valves to the heart.

Both individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes are at a higher risk of developing it and, for the latter, the risk of calcification in the aortic valve (aortic stenosis) is 1.62 times higher than for controls without diabetes.

"The lower risk of primary regurgitation, or leakage, in type 2 diabetes is also caused by the presumed process of hardening and calcification that's started by high blood pressure, impaired blood-sugar metabolism, and factors linked to obesity," says Aidin Rawshani, lead author.

The study identifies blood sugar, blood pressure, blood lipids, obesity, and kidney function as specific factors affecting risks of left-sided heart-valve disease. The statistical analysis shows that it might be beneficial if more of the traditional risk factors were reduced even further, compared with current healthcare guidelines.

The study also showed that diabetics whose blood sugar, blood pressure, blood fats (lipids), body mass index (BMI), and kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate, eGFR) were within the therapeutic target range had a persistently high risk of hardening in left-sided valves, while their regurgitation risk of suction was markedly low, compared with controls.

[ConservativeMind]

Further lowering of blood sugar, blood pressure, blood lipids, obesity, and kidney function issues appears supportive of minimizing these forms of heart disease. If you are “normal” now, it’s apparently not enough.

[ConservativeMind]

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