The prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in patients undergoing echocardiography for clinical reason

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.