The prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in patients undergoing echocardiography for clinical reason Absalom D. Hepner b , Mastaneh Ahmadi-Kashani b , Mohammad-Reza Movahed a, ⁎ a University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center, Department of Medicine, Section of Cardiology, 1501 North Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85724, United States b University of California, Irvine Medical Center, Department of Medicine, United States Received 4 March 2006; received in revised form 7 August 2006; accepted 17 November 2006 Available online 12 February 2007 Abstract Background: The prevalence of mitral valve prolapse (MVP) has been reported to be 2.4% according to the Framingham Heart Study. However larger trials have found the prevalence of MVP to be less than 1.5%. We studied the prevalence of MVP using a large echocardiographic database. Method: We retrospectively analyzed 24,265 echocardiograms performed between 1984 and 1998 for clinical reason. The total prevalence of MVP was calculated and stratified based on gender. Results: The database included 12,926 female and 11,339 male patients. The echocardiographic prevalence of MVP was 0.4% in females and 0.7% in males. The prevalence was 0.6% overall. Conclusion: In the largest sample studied to date, the prevalence of MVP was lower than what was previously reported, with similar findings in both genders. © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Mitral valve prolapse; MVP; Prevalence; Echocardiography 1. Introduction Since its first description by Criley and Barlow in the 1960s, the prevalence of mitral valve prolapse (MVP) has been debated [1,2]. Previously reported prevalence has ranged from less than one percent to greater than twenty percent [1]. While some of the early differences can be ascribed to competing methods of identification, the debates have persisted despite of the acceptance of two-dimensional echocardiography as the gold standard and the established guidelines regarding appropriate definitions and views necessary for diagnosis of MVP [4,5,9]. To date, the studies reporting prevalence of MVP have been limited by either exclusively evaluating one gender, a narrow range of age groups, or specific ethnicities [6–19]. In the past, some studies recruited patients from hospitals while others advertised for volunteers [8,9,18]. The largest trial of the general population thus far involved 3491 patients who were enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study which re- ported a 2.4% overall prevalence of MVP, 2.1% prevalence in males and 2.7% in females [20]. However, the prevalence reported by the Framingham Heart Study is much higher than the 1% reported by the Flack et al study of 4136 young adults (refer to Table 1 for a summary of MVP prevalence trials) [13]. The goal of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of MVP in a large echocardiographic database. The database was created at our non-invasive laboratory using echocar- diographic studies performed at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center between 1984 and 1998 for clinical reason by ordering physicians. The data base contained over 20,000 echocardiograms, represent the largest study to date of the prevalence of MVP in the l population. International Journal of Cardiology 123 (2007) 55 – 57 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcard ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 520 626 2000, +1 949 400 0091. E-mail address: rmovahed@email.arizona.edu (M.-R. Movahed). 0167-5273/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2006.11.130