Association between Body Mass Index and Mitral Valve Prolapse

Article type: Original Article Introduction: Body mass index (BMI) can affect cardiac morphology; however, the relationship between BMI and valvular heart diseases has not been thoroughly evaluated. This study aimed to determine the relationship between BMI and mitral valve prolapse (MVP) as one of the most common valve diseases worldwide. It can help us to better understand pathophysiology of this common disease. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study we enrolled 200 patients with isolated MVP. This patient was referred from 2014 to 2015 to our cardiology clinic in Mashhad, Iran, with chief complaint of chest pain, dyspnea, and palpitation. patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography. We document the patients’ height, weight, and demographics data. BMI distribution was categorized as higher and lower than 18.5 kg/m2. Chisquare and independent samples t-test were performed using SPSS version 19 to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that 92 (46%) and 108 (54%) of the samples were male and female, respectively, and their mean age was 24.29±3.75 years. Most of the patients(n=110) had low BMI (55% of the patients had BMI lower than 18.5 kg/m2). Left atrial and ventricular diameters had a significant relationship with BMI of all the underweight patients(n=110) (P=0.026 and 0.032, respectively). The main complaints were chest pain (n=55,50%) and dyspnea (n=58,64.44%) in the patients with low and normal BMI, respectively. Conclusion: Symptoms and echocardiographic features in MVP patients vary with BMI. While mitral valve annulus diameter was the same in both BMI groups, the results showed that left atrial and ventricular diameters in the underweight patients were less than those with normal BMI. Article history: Received: 11 Nov 2015 Revised: 14 Dec 2015 Accepted: 21 Jan 2016