Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Their Relation to Future Surgery for Valvular Heart Disease or Ascending Aortic Disease: A Case-Referent Study.

Background: Risk factors for developing heart valve and ascending aortic disease are based mainly on retrospective data. To elucidate these factors in a prospective manner, we have performed a nested case-referent study using data from large, population-based surveys.

Methods And Results: A total of 777 patients operated for heart valve disease or disease of the ascending aorta had previously participated in population-based health surveys in Northern Sweden.