Prevalence of wild type ATTR assessed as myocardial uptake in bone scan in the elderly population

Background: Myocardial uptake of bone tracers has emerged as useful tool for the early detection of transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR). The prevalence of wild-type ATTR (ATTRwt) in individuals remains to be established. Methods: All whole body bone scans performed in individuals = 75 years with no previous clinical suspicion of ATTR were revised in a population-based university hospital over a 7-year period (1509 studies corresponding to 1114 patients; 80.5 +/- 4.1 years, 65% males). Positive cardiac uptake was defined according to Perugini score as grade 2 or 3. Heart failure (HF) hospitalizations during the follow-up were obtained from regional administrative databases. Results: Thirty-one patients >= 75 years (2.78%) showed cardiac uptake; compared with those without uptake, these patients were older (85 +/- 5 vs. 80 +/- 4, p < 0.001) and predominantly males (90% vs. 64%, p = 0.005). The prevalence of cardiac uptake was 3.88% in males and 0.77% in females, and increased with age, reaching 13.9% in males >= 85 years (2.7% among females). The estimated prevalence for the European standard population >= 75 years was 4.15% in males, 1.03% in females and 2.59% in the general population. HF hospitalizations rates were 14% in patients without uptake and 29% in those with cardiac uptake (p = 0.034). After adjusting for age and gender, cardiac uptake was associated with a higher risk of HF hospitalization (OR 2.60, 95% CI 1.09-5.74, p = 0.022). Conclusions: Myocardial uptake in bone scan is very prevalent with ageing, mainly affects males and is associated with an increased risk of HF hospitalization. These findings reinforce ATTRwt as a relevant cause ofHF in the elderly. (c) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.