When most people think of heart disease, they think of heart attacks or heart failure. But many Americans have never heard of heart valve disease. In fact, a recent survey found that three in four Americans know little to nothing about heart valve disease.
So, what is heart valve disease and why should you care about it?
The heart has four valves, and their job is to keep blood moving in and out of the heart. Heart valve disease occurs when one or more of these valves are damaged. This can disrupt blood flow and lead to major complications, including death. More than five million Americans have heart valve disease, and 22,000 die from it each year.
Age is the major risk factor for heart valve disease, and since we age from the time we are born, we all need to care about it. One in eight people age 75 and older have moderate to severe heart valve disease.
Older adults are often affected from wear and tear due to aging or from previous heart conditions, such as certain infections or atrial fibrillation.
Heart valve disease also affects the very young—babies can be born with heart valve problems that usually develop sooner or later into heart valve disease. Nearly 600 newborns and infants under the age of one die each year from congenital heart valve disease.
You're probably familiar with the general risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, obesity, and lack of physical activity. These also increase your risk for heart valve disease.
Thankfully, it can be successfully treated in people of all ages with heart valve repair or replacement, but the key to positive outcomes is getting it diagnosed and treated as early as possible.
Routine heart checks with a stethoscope sometimes pick up a heart murmur, which can be a telling sign of heart valve disease. Other common symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness or dizziness, pain or tightness in the chest, or fatigue. Unfortunately, sometimes people chalk up the symptoms they are experiencing as just a part of getting older, and then dismiss them. Then there’s people with heart valve disease that have no symptoms at all.
Considering how common the risk factors are, the fact that symptoms are often missed, and how many people it affects, we need to start a national conversation about heart valve disease.
This is why the Alliance for Aging Research and 20 national organizations have come together to establish National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day on February 22nd every year. This observance, during American Heart Month, is a unique opportunity to talk about heart valve disease and promote proper diagnosis and treatment.
National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day is centered on four key messages: Listen to Your Body, Know Your Risk Factors, Get Your Heart Checked Regularly, and Spread the Word and Raise Awareness.
Learn more about it and get involved at www.valvediseaseday.org. And be sure to always listen to your heart.
Susan Peschin, MHS, is president and CEO of the Alliance for Aging Research in Washington, D.C.
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