Objectives The true prevalence and disease burden of moderate or severe (significant) tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in patients undergoing routine echocardiography remains unknown. Our aim was to explore the prevalence of significant TR and the impact of pulmonary hypertension (PH) on outcome in a less selected cohort of patients referred to echocardiography.

Methods From 12 791 echocardiograms performed between January and December 2010, a total of 209 (1.6%) patients (72±14 years, 56% men) were identified with significant TR; 123 (0.96%) with moderate and 86 (0.67%) with severe TR. Median follow-up time was 80 months (mean 70±33 months). Systolic pulmonary artery pressure was derived from peak velocity of tricuspid regurgitant jet plus the right atrial pressure and considered elevated if ≥40 mm Hg (PH).

Results During follow-up there were 123 (59%) deaths with no difference in mortality between moderate and severe TR (p=0.456). The death rates were 93 (67%) in patients with PH versus 30 (42%) without PH (p<0.001). PH was associated with lower event-free survival in moderate (log-rank, p<0.001), but not in severe TR (log-rank, p=0.133). In a multivariate Cox regression analysis adjusted for age, smoking, coronary artery disease, reduced right ventricle S′, lower left ventricular ejection fraction at baseline, right atrium size and mitral valve replacement, PH remained a significant predictor of all-cause mortality (HR 2.22; 95% CI 1.41 to 3.47, p=0.001).

Conclusions Moderate or severe TR was found in 1.6% of patients attending for routine echocardiograms. PH identified a high-risk subset of patients with moderate TR but not with severe TR.