Egnite Study Provides Contemporary Analysis of Valvular Heart Disease Prevalence in the United States

April 2, 2022—Egnite, Inc., which is a digital health company focused on artificial intelligence solutions to help hospitals identify and manage their most at-risk cardiac patients, announced new data results from the company-sponsored study, “Contemporary Prevalence of Valvular Heart Disease & Diagnostic Variability Across Centers,” which will be presented by senior author James Thomas, MD, at ACC.22, the American College of Cardiology's 71st annual scientific session on April 3, 2022.

The study abstract was published online by J. Matthew Brennan, MD in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

According to the company, the findings have the potential to help the clinical community better understand the impact of valvular heart disease (VHD) and the need for vigilance when screening and diagnosing patients.

In the press release, the company explained that an analysis was performed on data from > 714,000 patients (represented by > 929,000 de-identified echocardiographic reports) at 35 community and academic programs across the United States to evaluate the prevalence of aortic stenosis (AS), aortic regurgitation (AR), mitral stenosis (MS), mitral regurgitation (MR), and tricuspid regurgitation (TR). The data were sourced from the CardioCare platform, which includes a large dataset of echocardiographic reports that can offer insights into contemporary structural heart disease diagnosis and management in real-world practice settings.

As summarized by Egnite, the study demonstrated the following:

• Prevalence of VHD continues to be substantial and more common as patients age, with a noticeable increase above 65 years of age. TR and MR were the most common types of VHD observed
• Prevalence of mixed VHD also increased with advancing age; the combination of MR and TR was the most common form of mixed valvular disease
• Overall, VHD of moderate or greater severity was found to be more common among female patients versus male patients
• Severe MR was more commonly diagnosed at centers that offer transcatheter mitral valve repair technologies (1.2% vs 0.8%; P < .0001)

Dr. Brennan, who is Associate Professor of Medicine, Interventional Cardiology, at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Caroline, commented in Egnite's press release, "This is the first prevalence study out of one of the largest echo databases in the world, underscoring the potential for groundbreaking research from this tremendous resource. Our work expands by an order of magnitude the sample size and generalizability of previous work in a large contemporary cohort."

Further, Dr. Brennan stated, "These data confirming the increasing prevalence of single valve disease among older patients are the first large-scale findings to demonstrate a nearly 1 in 20 prevalence of moderate or greater double valve disease, specifically MR/TR among older patients. It also suggests a greater prevalence of mitral and tricuspid disease among women with greater prevalence of aortic stenosis among men."

Glenn R. Barnhart, MD, who is Chief Medical Officer of Egnite, added, “These data provide important contemporary insights into understanding the impact of valve disease in the current era. While we must continue to focus on improving outcomes for aortic stenosis patients, the data highlight the urgent need for innovative therapies to treat patients with mitral regurgitation and tricuspid regurgitation as well as patients with mixed valvular disease. This analysis represents Egnite’s commitment to closing the gaps in patient care that prevent timely diagnosis and treatment. We are grateful to Dr. Brennan and the other study authors for leading this effort and making this analysis possible."