Unlike in many other cardiovascular diseases, there are effective treatment options for heart valve disease that can alleviate disease progression, improve quality of life and reduce mortality. However, in too many cases the illness is undetected, undiagnosed, untreated, or treated too late. This results in avoidable deaths, high costs and significant compromises to people’s quality of life. Much of this burden could be alleviated by addressing the gaps that exist along the patient care pathway. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has compromised care for many patients with heart valve disease, adding to existing deficits in early diagnosis and timely care.
Addressing gaps in the patient care pathway is also urgent if we want to protect the health and productivity of this growing population of patients. Actions taken now would also reduce the future burden of heart valve disease on our society in terms of impaired quality of life, avoidable deaths and costs to healthcare.