Health of 1 million over 65s at risk from low awareness of heart valve disease

New research has revealed that the UK’s over 60s could seriously be jeopardizing their health due to a lack of awareness of heart valve disease.

More than nine in 10 respondents (94%) do not know what the most common heart valve disease, aortic stenosis, is and less than 3% say heart valve disease is the condition that gives them significant concern compared to other illnesses - with 25% most concerned by cancer and 22% about Alzheimer’s. This is despite the annual mortality rate of severe aortic stenosis being considerably higher than most cancers.

UK charity Heart Valve Voice have released this data to highlight the worrying lack of concern Brits over 60 have about the disease. Heart valve disease is a common, but treatable, heart condition where the heart valves no longer work properly and affect the pumping action of blood around the body.

However, many patients do not suffer severe or visible symptoms, or put their symptoms down to the natural ageing process, making diagnosis difficult. It is important to diagnose early as, if severe aortic stenosis is left untreated, half of those patients will die within two years of developing symptoms.

Almost three-quarters (72%) of over 60s claim that their doctor rarely or never checks their heart with a stethoscope, despite this being one of the first steps to detect heart valve disease. There is also a gender divide when it comes to how concerned we are - 14% of men versus 6.5% of women saying they are checked with a stethoscope at every doctor visit, and 17% of men compared with 30% of women who are never checked.

Encouragingly, although knowledge of heart valve disease is low, after receiving additional information about the condition, 66% of over 60s are more concerned about aortic stenosis, 31% say they would seek further information and 7% of the respondents even recognize symptoms of the disease in themselves.

Using a stethoscope to listen to the heart is one of the simplest steps that doctors can take towards diagnosis so there is an urgent need for this to be part of routine checks by doctors.

References

1. Opinion Matters. Aortic valve stenosis – What do people know? A Heart Valve Disease Awareness Survey of over 8,800 people aged 60 or over. Survey carried out 28/09/2015 – 12/10/2015. Data on file. Survey funded by Edwards Life sciences.
2. National Cancer Institute. SEER Cancer Stat Fact Sheets. Seercancergov. Available at: http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/. Accessed 23 March 2016
3. The changing burden of heart valve disease. British Cardiovascular Society. https://www.bcs.com/pages/news_full.asp?NewsID=19792059 Accessed: 10 March 2016
4. Political challenges related to an aging population. Key issues for the 2015 parliament. Available at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-parliament-2015/social-change/ageing-population/ Accessed 23 March 2016.
5. Heart valve disease. Bupa. http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information /directory/h/heart-valve-disease Accessed: 10 March 2016.