Table 1.
Baseline characteristics and echocardiographic parameters
| Pre-COVID-19 n = 266 |
COVID-19 year 1 n = 249 |
COVID-19 year 2 n = 205 |
p-value (P-1) |
p-value (P-2) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline characteristics | |||||
| Age, years | 80 (74–85) | 79 (74–83) | 79 (74–84) | 0.07 | 0.76 |
| Male | 137 (51.5) | 151 (60.6) | 98 (47.8) | 0.04 | 0.01 |
| Hypertension | 201 (75.6) | 189 (75.9) | 156 (76.1) | 0.93 | 0.96 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 84 (31.6) | 79 (31.7) | 44 (21.5) | 0.97 | 0.01 |
| Stroke/TIA | 61 (22.9) | 49 (19.7) | 54 (26.3) | 0.37 | 0.09 |
| Peripheral artery disease | 66 (24.8) | 43 (17.3) | 24 (11.7) | 0.04 | 0.10 |
| COPD | 41 (15.4) | 30 (12.0) | 27 (13.2) | 0.27 | 0.72 |
| Previous myocardial infarction | 37 (13.9) | 39 (15.7) | 31 (15.1) | 0.58 | 0.87 |
| Previous PCI | 72 (27.1) | 58 (23.3) | 52 (25.4) | 0.32 | 0.61 |
| Previous CABG | 25 (9.4) | 22 (8.8) | 21 (10.2) | 0.82 | 0.61 |
| Previous aortic valve surgery | 10 (3.8) | 7 (2.8) | 8 (3.9) | 0.55 | 0.52 |
| Previous TAVI | 3 (1.1) | 1 (0.4) | 3 (1.5) | 0.35 | 0.23 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 94 (35.3) | 84 (33.7) | 63 (30.7) | 0.70 | 0.50 |
| Permanent pacemaker/ICD | 27 (10.2) | 42 (16.9) | 19 (9.3) | 0.03 | 0.02 |
| EURO II score, % | 2.5 (1.7–5.2) | 2.6 (1.5–5.3) | 2.7 (1.6–4.3) | 0.91 | 0.82 |
| Creatinine clearance, ml/min | 63 (50–78) | 62 (50–77) | 64 (53–77) | 0.93 | 0.67 |
| NYHA functional class IVa | 47 (18.0) | 56 (22.6) | 42 (20.5) | 0.20 | 0.54 |
| Admitted with decompensated AS at baseline | 43 (12.8) | 43 (17.3) | 31 (15.1) | 0.15 | 0.54 |
| Any HF hospitalisation | 90 (33.8) | 90 (36.1) | 66 (32.2) | 0.58 | 0.38 |
| Clinical frailtyb | 140 (52.6) | 108 (43.4) | 91 (44.4) | 0.04 | 0.83 |
| Walking aid dependent | 94 (35.3) | 92 (36.9) | 80 (39.0) | 0.70 | 0.65 |
| Echocardiographic parameters | |||||
| LVEF, % | 58 (49–60) | 57 (45–60) | 57 (50–60) | 0.03 | 0.52 |
| Aortic valve MG, mm Hg | 38 (31–47) | 39 (30–48) | 40 (32–49) | 0.94 | 0.16 |
| Aortic valve area, cm2 | 0.8 (0.7–0.9) | 0.8 (0.6–0.9) | 0.7 (0.6–0.9) | 0.29 | 0.27 |
| Aortic regurgitation ≥ moderate | 40 (15.0) | 24 (9.6) | 26 (12.7) | 0.06 | 0.30 |
| Mitral regurgitation ≥ moderate | 54 (20.3) | 43 (17.3) | 41 (20.0) | 0.38 | 0.46 |
| Tricuspid regurgitation ≥ moderate | 33 (12.4) | 41 (16.5) | 27 (13.2) | 0.19 | 0.33 |
Values are numbers (percentages) or medians (25th–75th percentile). p-values of P‑1 and P‑2 represent the statistical significance of the pairwise comparison of pre-COVID-19 versus COVID-19 year 1 and COVID-19 year 1 versus COVID-19 year 2, respectively
AS aortic stenosis, CABG coronary artery bypass grafting, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, HF heart failure, ICD implantable cardioverter defibrillator, LVEF left ventricular ejection fraction, MG mean gradient, NYHA New York Heart Association, PCI percutaneous coronary intervention, TAVI transcatheter aortic valve implantation, TIA transient ischaemic attack
aPercentages given of non-missing population: n = 47/261, n = 56/248, n = 42/205 in pre-COVID, year 1 and year 2, respectively
bDetermined by multidisciplinary heart team assessment