New York, April 15 || People with a certain heart valve abnormality may be at an increased risk of developing severe heart rhythm disorders also known as arrhythmias, according to a study on Tuesday.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden showed that the valve abnormality called Mitral annular disjunction (MAD) increases the risk of ventricular arrhythmias -- a dangerous type of heart rhythm disorder that, in the worst case, can lead to cardiac arrest.
The team found that the risk of arrhythmias persists even after successful valve surgery.
MAD is often associated with a heart disease called mitral valve prolapse, which affects 2.5 per cent of the population and causes one of the heart's valves to leak. This can lead to blood being pumped backward in the heart, causing heart failure and arrhythmias. The disease can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath and palpitations.
The study, published in the European Heart Journal, showed that people with MAD were more likely to be female and were on average eight years younger than those without MAD.
They also had more extensive mitral valve disease.