Aortic valve sclerosis is a high predictive marker of systemic endothelial dysfunction in hypertensive patients.

Background: Aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) is closely related to hypertension and is an important predictor of coronary artery disease as well as cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, the mechanisms causing AVS have not yet been clarified. Therefore, we planned to investigate the influence of atherosclerosis-related risk factors including C-reactive protein (CRP), epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), pulse wave velocity (PWV), left ventricular hypertrophy, and the conventional risk parameters as well as endothelial dysfunction in untreated hypertensive patients.

Methods And Results: Our study was cross-sectional and observational, and included 107 consecutive untreated hypertensive patients. All patients underwent vascular evaluation by CIMT, PWV, flow-mediated dilation (FMD%), as well as echocardiographic examinations. Age (OR = 1.180, p < 0.001), male sex (OR = 3.056, p = 0.019), waist circumference (OR = 1.082, p = 0.004), EAT (OR = 1.419, p = 0.001), smoking status (OR = 3.161, p = 0.014), FMD% (OR = 0.649, p < 0.001), mean CIMT (OR = 2.481, P < 0.001), and carotid plaque (OR = 4.692, P = 0.001) were associated with AVS in univariate analyses. Multivariate analyses revealed only age (OR = 1.144, P = 0.006) and FMD% (OR = 0.691, 0.001) as independent predictors of AVS. The presence of AVS had a high positive predictive value (100 %) but a low negative predictive value (51 %) for endothelial dysfunction (FMD < 12 %) in hypertensive patients.

Conclusion: Our study supports the theory that systemic endothelial dysfunction has an initial and independent effect on AVS pathogenesis. Moreover, we demonstrated that the presence of AVS in patients with hypertension predicts endothelial dysfunction, with a high positive predictive value. Thus, AVS in hypertensive patients may urge clinicians toward aggressive risk factor modification and intensive treatment.