Coronary artery disease in patients with rheumatic and non-rheumatic valvular heart disease treated at a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro

to estimate the prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in valvular heart disease of rheumatic (RVHD) and non-rheumatic (NVHD) etiology, assessing possible predictive factors for the presence of CAD. This is a cross-sectional study of a series of cases obtained from a pre-defined population, wherein 1,412 patients referred for heart surgery of any etiology were evaluated. Of these, 294 primary heart disease patients aged > or =40 submitted to cinecoronary arteriography (CA) were identified and studied. patients with RVHD presented lower prevalence of CAD (4%) when compared to NVHD (33.61%), p or =55, SAH, TACP, diabetes and dyslipidemia were all related directly to CAD, with the latter three being the most important variables for the disease. the prevalence of CAD among RVHD patients is low, whereas it is high among NVHD patients; the rheumatic etiology does not seem to have any beneficial effects on the prevalence of CAD; gender, age, SAH, TACP, dyslipidemia and diabetes were identified as being strongly associated with the presence of CAD. It is possible to define the criteria that indicate the need for pre-surgical CA in heart valve replacements, so that the standard indication after the age of 40 years can be avoided.