Aims: Despite procedural success, certain patients fail to derive clinical benefit from transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). In a nationwide TAVI registry, we assessed the proportion of patients experiencing either a deterioration in quality of life (QoL) or death 1 year after TAVI, and the factors associated with these outcomes.
Methods and results: This prospective substudy of the FRANCE TAVI registry included patients enrolled between 2018 and 2019 who completed the EuroQoL-5-dimension-5-level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire at baseline and 1 year. Among the 3159 patients (median age 83 years), EQ-5D-5L visual analogue scale increased significantly from 60 (IQR 50-70) at baseline to 70 (IQR 50-80) at follow-up (P < 0.001). However, 459 patients (14.5%) experienced a deterioration in QoL, and 596 (18.9%) died within 1 year. According to a multivariable logistic model, factors significantly associated with poor outcome were frailty [OR 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.08-1.83)], diabetes [OR 1.41, 95% CI (1.06-1.88)], chronic pulmonary disease [OR 1.55, 95% CI (1.09-2.20)], critical pre-operative status [OR 0.42, 95% CI (0.21-0.83)], left ventricular ejection fraction [OR 1.01, 95% CI (1.00-1.02)], mean aortic gradient at discharge [OR 0.97, 95% CI (0.95-1.00)], need for pacemaker implantation [OR 1.51, 95% CI (1.10-2.06)], anticoagulation therapy at discharge [OR 1.65, 95% CI (1.23-2.22)], and time to discharge [OR 1.04, 95% CI (1.01-1.07)].
Conclusion: Although TAVI improved overall QoL, 14.5% of patients experienced a deterioration in QoL and 18.9% died within 1 year. Predictors included baseline comorbidities and post-procedural factors (anticoagulation at discharge and time to discharge), which are largely unpredictable.
Keywords: Aortic stenosis; Comorbidities; Quality of life; Transcatheter aortic valve implantation.
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