Albumin Is Predictive of 1-Year Mortality After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
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BACKGROUND: A validated model for predicting 1-year outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) does not exist. Frailty markers have been proposed as potential variables to assess individual patient risk. TAVR-specific risk models may benefit from frailty markers, and sarcopenia may represent an objective frailty marker. OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the predictive ability of sarcopenia and frailty markers on 1-year mortality after TAVR. METHODS: We evaluated 470 patients undergoing TAVR at a single center. Frailty was assessed using 4 markers (gait speed, handgrip strength, serum albumin, and Katz activities of daily living). Sarcopenia was measured as the cross-sectional psoas muscle area on pre-TAVR computed tomography. Performance of four models incorporating Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality (STS-PROM), frailty, and/or sarcopenia metrics for predicting 1-year mortality was assessed with area under the curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow statistics, and calibration plots. RESULTS: A total of 63 (13.4%) deaths occurred by 1-year. STS-PROM alone was poorly predictive of 1-year mortality (AUC 0.52, 95%CI: 0.42, 0.68). Only the model including both sarcopenia and all frailty markers (AUC 0.61, 95%CI: 0.53, 0.68) significantly improved predictive ability compared to STS-PROM alone (p = 0.05). Albumin was the only frailty marker significantly associated with increased risk for 1-year mortality (p=0.03). Psoas muscle area, as a surrogate for sarcopenia, was not significantly associated with increased risk for 1-year mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Most commonly used pre-TAVR risk assessments are poorly predictive of 1-year mortality. Albumin was the only frailty marker that was associated with higher mortality. Future studies should investigate whether optimization of nutritional status can improve outcomes following TAVR.