Impact of socio-economic profile on the prosthesis type choice used on heart surgery.

BACKGROUND Valvar heart disease is an important public health problem, more common in developing countries, especially in younger. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the epidemiological features of patients and its influence on the prosthesis type choice used on patients who underwent valve surgery. METHODS Cross-sectional. Data such as age, sex, provenance, surgery procedure and prosthesis type were retrospectively analyzed. We reviewed 366 charts of all patients submitted to heart valve surgery during three years in a public health cardiovascular treatment center. RESULTS 52% of patients were female. The age range was from 5 to 82, the median was 41 years old. In regards 37.7% of patients came from Salvador (Bahia, Brazil) and 62.3% from countryside. Valve replacement was performed in 73% of patients, whereas 7.38% underwent valvuloplasty and 18.3% underwent valve repair and replacement. Regarding type of prosthesis, 70.0% received bioprosthesis and 30.0% received metal prosthesis. On note bioprosthesis were more used in younger (P<0,001). CONCLUSION Biological prostheses were used predominantly in younger. This might be possible due to a low social-economic status, avoiding metal valve implantation and the consequent anticoagulation therapy.