title: Risk stratification and outcome of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy >=60 years of age.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is prominently associated with risk for sudden death and disease progression, largely in young patients. Whether patients of more advanced age harbor similar risks is unresolved, often creating clinical dilemmas, particularly in decisions for primary prevention of sudden death with implantable defibrillators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We studied 428 consecutive HCM patients presenting at ≥60 years of age and followed for 5.8±4.8 years; 53% were women. Of the 428 patients, 279 (65%) survived to 73±7 years of age (range, 61-96 years), most (n=245, 88%) with no/mild symptoms, including 135 with ≥1 conventional sudden death risk factors and 50 (37%) with late gadolinium enhancement. Over follow-up, 149 (35%) died at 80±8 years of age, mostly from non-HCM-related causes (n=133, 31%), including a substantial proportion from noncardiac disease (n=54). Sixteen patients (3.7%) had HCM-related mortality events (0.64%/y), including embolic stroke (n=6), progressive heart failure or transplantation (n=3), postoperative complications (n=2), and arrhythmic sudden death events (n=5, 1.2% [0.20%/y]). All-cause mortality was increased in HCM patients ≥60 years of age compared with an age-matched US general population, predominantly as a result of non-HCM-related diseases (P<0.001; standard mortality ratio, 1.5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HCM patients surviving into the seventh decade of life are at low risk for disease-related morbidity/mortality, including sudden death, even with conventional risk factors. These data do not support aggressive prophylactic defibrillator implantation at advanced ages in HCM. Other cardiac or noncardiac comorbidities have a greater impact on survival than HCM in older patients.
authors.affiliation: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center, Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, 920 E 28th St, Ste 620, Minneapolis, MN 55407, USA. hcm.maron@mhif.org
authors.forename: Barry J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Maron
authors.forename: Ethan J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Rowin
authors.forename: Susan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.forename: Tammy S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: Raymond H M
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Udelson
authors.forename: Ross F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Garberich
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lesser
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Appelbaum
authors.forename: Warren J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Manning
authors.forename: Martin S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Maron
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015996:Survival Rate