American Heart Association Launches National Initiative to Combat Rising Heart Valve Disease Deaths
The American Heart Association has launched a comprehensive Heart Valve Initiative to address the growing mortality from heart valve disease, which affects over 28 million people worldwide and contributes to more than 60,000 annual U.S. deaths through improved diagnosis, treatment protocols, and public awareness.
The American Heart Association has established heart valve disease as a critical focus area by launching a nationwide initiative to improve patient outcomes and health care quality through science and education. This comes as more than 28 million people worldwide are living with heart valve disease, with the condition contributing to more than 60,000 deaths each year in the United States alone. The Heart Valve Initiative will harmonize the Association's efforts in patient education, professional education, systems of care and quality improvement to make a greater impact for patients and clinical outcomes.
The new initiative will expand efforts to help health systems and clinicians identify patients affected by heart valve disease earlier, treat them faster and deliver care aligned with the latest evidence-based guidelines. By integrating new hospital certification programs, health care professional education and patient engagement tools, the initiative is designed to drive improvement across the full continuum of care. Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association, emphasized that the organization is uniquely positioned to lead a comprehensive initiative that can help ensure timely diagnosis, appropriate treatment and hopefully a longer, healthier life for those living with valve disease.
The Heart Valve Initiative is made possible from founding sponsor Edwards Lifesciences, building on current work around aortic stenosis, one of the most common and serious heart valve diseases. The Target: Aortic Stenosis™ program uses a data registry to enhance the patient experience from symptom onset to appropriate diagnosis and follow-through, to timely treatment and disease management. With one in 40 people in the U.S. having heart valve disease and the risk increasing with age, especially for those over 65, the initiative addresses a critical public health need. Todd J. Brinton, chief scientific officer and corporate vice president of advanced innovation and technology at Edwards Lifesciences, noted that over six decades of creating treatments for patients with structural heart disease has revealed that too many patients with valve disease go undiagnosed until it's too late.
Over the next five years, the initiative will improve adherence to guideline-based care for heart valve diseases, with an initial focus on aortic stenosis and intent for expansion into other forms of heart valve disease. It will expand data collection in the existing Target: Aortic Stenosis registry to include enhanced measurement of asymptomatic and moderate AS cases and build a guideline-based heart valve certification program for hospitals. The program will also advance public reporting and expand hospital recognition to drive high-quality care, provide multimedia education for both health care professionals and patients, and launch a national awareness campaign to educate people about heart valve disease and make informed care decisions. Additional information about heart valve disease screening is available at https://screenheartvalvedisease.com/.
Key clinical metrics for improvement will include timely diagnosis and management of severe and asymptomatic aortic stenosis, quality of echocardiographic assessment for heart valve diseases and appropriate referral to follow-up cardiac care. In addition to Edwards Lifesciences' foundational support, the Heart Valve Initiative is supported in part by Kardigan. The initiative represents a coordinated effort to address a growing health crisis that affects millions worldwide and contributes significantly to cardiovascular mortality rates.