{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Cardiac defects of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorders: a retrospective cohort study.
{Author}: Knight DRT;Bruno KA;Singh A;Munipalli B;Gajarawala S;Solomon M;Kocsis SC;Darakjian AA;Jain A;Whelan ER;Kotha A;Gorelov DJ;Phillips SD;Fairweather D;
{Journal}: Front Cardiovasc Med
{Volume}: 11
{Issue}: 0
{Year}: 2024
{Factor}: 5.846
{DOI}: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1332508
{Abstract}: <B>UNASSIGNED: </B>Defective connective tissue structure may cause individuals with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) or hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) to develop cardiac defects.<BR><B>UNASSIGNED: </B>We conducted a retrospective chart review of adult patients treated in the EDS Clinic from November 1, 2019, to June 20, 2022 to identify those with cardiac defects. Echocardiogram data were collected using a data collection service. All EDS Clinic patients were evaluated by a single physician and diagnosed according to the 2017 EDS diagnostic criteria. Patient demographic, family and cardiac history were extracted from self-reported responses from a REDCap clinical intake questionnaire. Patients with at least 1 available echocardiogram (ECHO) were selected for the study (n = 568).<BR><B>UNASSIGNED: </B>The prevalence of aortic root dilation in patients with hEDS was 2.7% and for HSD was 0.6%, with larger measurements for males than females and with age. Based on self-reported cardiac history that was verified from the medical record, patients with hEDS with bradycardia (p = 0.034) or brain aneurysm (p = 0.015) had a significantly larger average adult aortic root z-score. In contrast, patients with HSD that self-reported dysautonomia (p = 0.019) had a significantly larger average aortic root z-score. The prevalence of diagnosed mitral valve prolapse in patients with hEDS was 3.5% and HSD was 1.8%. Variants of uncertain significance were identified in 16 of 84 patients that received genetic testing based on family history.<BR><B>UNASSIGNED: </B>These data reveal a low prevalence of cardiac defects in a large cohort of well-characterized hEDS and HSD patients. Differences in cardiovascular issues were not observed between patients with hEDS vs. HSD; and our findings suggest that cardiac defects in patients with hEDS or HSD are similar to the general population.