Aortic stenosis risk factors


 * Associate Editors-In-Chief: Mohammed A. Sbeih, M.D. [mailto:msbeih@perfuse.org]; Assistant Editor-In-Chief: Kristin Feeney, B.S. [mailto:kfeeney@perfuse.org]

Overview
The most common risk factor for the subsequent development of aortic stenosis arises is a congenital bicuspid aortic valve.

Risk factors

 * Common risk factors for the development of aortic stenosis include:


 * Age-related progressive calcification of the normal tricuspid aortic valve (>50% of cases).
 * Congenital bicuspid aortic valve that may subsequently become calcified later in life (30-40% of cases). Normal aortic valve have three leafs (tricuspid), but some valves have two leafs (bicuspid). Typically, aortic stenosis due to calcification of a bicuspid valve appears earlier, in the 40s and 50s, whereas that due to calcification of a normal valve appears later, in the 70s and 80s.
 * Acute rheumatic fever (less than 10% of cases).


 * Other risk factors that may speed up the progression of aortic stenosis include:
 * Hypertension
 * Diabetes mellitus
 * Hyperlipoproteinemia
 * Uremia
 * Smoking