Dementia is associated with worse procedural outcomes after mitral valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair.

Background: Patients with dementia are at increased risk for adverse events following valvular surgery. Outcomes after mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) for mitral regurgitation in this vulnerable population are not well understood.

Methods: We queried the National Inpatient Sample database for all hospitalizations for mitral TEER between 2016 and 2019. Patients with a validated diagnosis code for dementia were identified by ICD-10 codes and compared to a matched cohort of non-dementia patients using multivariable regression analysis. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were hospital length of stay, discharge to nursing facility, total hospital charges, and in-hospital adverse events.

Results: 24,550 hospitalizations for mitral TEER were identified, including 880 patients (3.6 %) with dementia. Dementia was associated with higher in-hospital mortality (OR 4.31, 95 % CI 2.65 to 6.99, p < 0.001), prolonged length of hospital stay (OR 1.33, 95 % CI 1.12 to 1.57, p 0.001), higher discharge rate to nursing facility (OR 2.71, 95 % CI 2.13-3.44, p < 0.001), and higher rate of in-hospital adverse events including delirium (OR 5.88, 95 % CI 4.06 to 8.52, p < 0.001) and acute stroke (OR 8.87, 95 % CI 5.01 to 15.70, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Dementia is associated with worse post-procedural outcomes after mitral TEER. Further investigation is needed to elucidate mechanisms of poor clinical outcomes and guide shared decision-making in this vulnerable population.