Aortic Stenosis and Dyslipidemia

To date, aortic stenosis (AS) has no recommended prevention strategies, and statins have failed to slow disease progression in randomized trials. However, questions remain about whether dyslipidemia is associated with the condition. In a study employing a Mendelian randomization design, researchers used the random allocation of alleles associated with dyslipidemia to assess causal links from dyslipidemia to AS or to aortic regurgitation (AR) and mitral regurgitation (MR) in 432,173 participants from the UK Biobank.

Using diagnostic codes for the determination of valvular disorders, the researchers identified 1961 participants with AS, 2213 with MR, and 736 with AR. Evidence of causal associations was found between AS and LDL, total cholester…