Degenerative mitral valve disease: Key takeaways from the largest study of its kind
The global burden of degenerative mitral valve disease (DMVD) is rapidly growing, according to new late-breaking data presented at TCT 2026 in San Diego. There are approximately 16.1 million cases of DMVD in the world today. And while approximately 10.2 million of those patients are men, the mortality rate is actually significantly higher in women.
Those are just some of the key takeaways from what is believed to be the largest analysis of its kind. Researchers tracked data from the Global Burden of Disease study, tracking DMVD rates across 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023.
Juan Granada, MD, president and CEO of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) and a veteran interventional cardiologist, presented these data on Monday, Nov. 2. He emphasized that the prevalence of DMVD is up 126% since 1990. Mortality, meanwhile, is up 75% during that same time—and, yes, it is consistently higher among women than men. In 2023 alone, for example, there 24,400 women and 15,400 men died from DMVD.
Granada also noted that DMVD is much more common in high-resource parts of the world than it is in areas where resources are in short supply. Of course, the disease is still in those low-resource areas—it’s just much less commonly diagnosed.
DMVD is a very treatable heart valve condition if caught in time. If left untreated, however, it is associated with severe symptoms, heart failure hospitalizations and even death. In parts of the country where many patients lack access to care, however, many people never even learn they have DMVD.
“The conclusion is very simple: we are underdiagnosing this disease in countries where we do not have the resources,” Granada explained during a TCT press conference. “People are walking around with mitral disease, and women that have to stay home taking care of the kids … are the ones being impacted the most.”
Granada shared his hope that state-of-the-art technologies can go a long way toward addressing these healthcare disparities. With things like artificial intelligence-powered electrocardiograms and automated imaging becoming a reality, he said improved detection is now possible.
This research was funded by CRF and the Gates Foundation.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.