Aortic valve replacement (AVR) is getting more and more common among patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), according to a new analysis published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The increasing popularity of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) appears to be the biggest reason for this shift.
The study’s authors tracked Medicare data for patients 66 years old and older. All patients were treated from 2010 to 2016, and follow-up information was available through 2017.
Overall, the group found, the average rate of increase was 17.5 cases per 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries with ADRD and 8.4 cases per 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries who don’t have ADRD.
For patients with ADRD, adjusted mortality after TAVR was 13.5% in 2010, but dropped to 6.3% in 2016. For patients who don’t have ADRD, adjusted mortality followed a nearly identical pattern; it was 13.7% in 2010 and 6.3% in 2016.
Looking only at patients who underwent TAVR, adjusted mortality after the procedure for ADRD patients was 19.9% in 2010 and 5.2% in 2016. For TAVR patients who did not have ADRD, adjusted mortality dropped from 12.2% in 2010 to just 5% in 2016.
“The introduction of TAVR opened the possibility of treatment for aortic stenosis to the vulnerable population of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias,” lead author Brent K. Hollenbeck, MD, MS, of the University of Michigan, said in a prepared statement. “Many of these patients were not candidates for surgical replacement as evidenced by the low rates of treatment in the early years of the study. Importantly, in patients undergoing TAVR, one-year mortality in those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias was very similar to that of other patients by the end of the study.”
The full study is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.