Trivia Time: Do 20% Of Healthy, Middle-Age Men Have Heart Murmurs?
By Adam Pick on May 30, 2012
I just came across an interesting study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine about men and heart murmurs.
According to Dr. Johan Bodegard, a physician at the Oslo University Hospital in Norway, more than 20% of middle-age men have a heart murmur. This low-grade systolic murmur, over time, creates a five times risk of future aortic valve replacement. The study evaluated over 2,000 men, aged 40 to 49, during a 35-year time frame.
A key finding of the study suggested that men with moderate valve disease were 89X more likely to have AVR and a 1.5X risk of death due to heart disease. To learn more about heart murmurs, click here.
This is, yet again, another good reason to actively monitor your valvular defect with regular echocardiogram check-ups.
Keep on tickin!
Adam
Written by Adam Pick
- Patient & Website Founder
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Kerrigan says on May 31st, 2012 at 7:45 pm |
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I had my 3-year-post valve replacement echo and checkup recently. They detected a “very minor murmur” which the cardiologist says was not uncommon with the artificial aortic valve, and nothing with which to be concerned. The echo indicated the heart and valve were functioning normally and no different than the first annual echo taken after the surgery (“you are doing fine and so is the valve”) So I quit being concerned and continue with my normal activities an exercise program. |
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