[Epidemiology of valvular heart diseases in the adult].

Valvular heart diseases remain frequent in Western countries since the decrease in the frequency of rheumatic heart diseases has been replaced by degenerative valve diseases. Thus, there is an important increase in the prevalence of valvular heart diseases after the age of 65. The frequency of heart valve disease in the elderly has an important impact on patient management, given the frequency of comorbidity and the increase in the risk of interventions. The two other most frequent causes of heart valve disease are rheumatic fever and infective endocarditis. In Europe, the two most frequent heart valve diseases are calcified aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation, while aortic regurgitation and mitral stenosis are rare. Rheumatic heart diseases remain frequent in developing countries. Their prevalence is underestimated by clinical screening alone. Systematic echocardiographic screening estimates the prevalence of rheumatic heart valve disease to be between 20 and 30 per 1000 in children of school age.