Aortic valve replacement linked to lower dementia risk
Compared with medical management, valve replacement was linked to lower Alzheimer’s disease risk, with a hazard ratio—a relative risk measure—of 0.75.
159,823 participants
Limit: Residual confounding by disease severity could have influenced the results
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Patients with aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve, formed two matched groups of 159,823 in a retrospective observational cohort study. Researchers used records from 167 healthcare organizations to compare people who underwent valve replacement with those managed medically. Matching accounted for factors including frailty indicators, sensory impairment and previous stroke.
Valve replacement was associated with lower risks of Alzheimer’s disease and several other forms of dementia. Researchers found no clear differences in mild cognitive impairment or cerebral infarction, a type of stroke. The associations with lower dementia risk were stronger for surgical replacement than for transcatheter replacement, which delivers a new valve through a thin tube.
Why it matters
The study addresses whether treating aortic stenosis might offer long-term cognitive benefits relevant to brain health as people age.
Caveats
This observational study cannot establish cause and effect; differences in disease severity could still have influenced the results. The conference abstract concerned people with aortic stenosis and did not report their ages or follow-up duration.
- Aortic valve replacement
- Surgical aortic valve replacement
- Transcatheter aortic valve replacement
- Dementia
- Alzheimer's disease
- Humans
The paper
Endeavor Health; Villa Degli Ulivi
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
