Aortic valve stenosis: what do people know? A heart valve disease awareness survey of over 8,800 people aged 60 or over.
OBJECTIVE
Little is known about the level of public knowledge and concern towards aortic valve disease. Therefore, a survey was conducted to evaluate the awareness of the general population regarding different diseases with special emphasis on aortic stenosis (AS).


RESULTS
A total of 8,860 people aged 60 years or older in nine European countries took part in the survey. Cancer was the disease that respondents were most concerned about (27.5%), while only 1.7% were most concerned about heart valve disease. Seventeen percent (17%) of survey participants claimed to be familiar with heart valve disease, yet only 7% could correctly identify AS; 44.3% of respondents knew the correct number of valves in the human heart. After providing some general information about AS, 41.1% of respondents then said they were more concerned about the condition; 4.5% even recognised the symptoms in themselves. Over half of the respondents (54.2%) claimed that their general practitioners only rarely or never use the stethoscope to check their heart, which may eventually lead to an underdiagnosis of AS.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite its high prevalence, high morbidity and mortality, as well as good treatment options, the vast majority of respondents were neither concerned nor fully aware of AS.
Department of Cardiology, St.-Johannes-Hospital, Dortmund, Germany.
Luise
L
Gaede
Roberto
R
Di Bartolomeo
Frank
F
van der Kley
Albrecht
A
Elsässer
Bernard
B
Iung
Helge
H
Möllmann
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires