Results:

In the years surveyed, 13,849 registry patients (5.7%) were younger than 65 years, 125,846 (52.1%) were aged 65-80 years, and 101,725 (42.1%) were 80 years and older. Among those younger than 65 years, the mean (SD) age was 59.7 (4.8) years, and 9,068 of 13,849 patients (65.5%) were male. Among those aged 65-80 years, the mean (SD) age was 74.1 (4.2) years, and 77, 817 of 125,843 patients (61.8%) were male. Those younger than 65 years were more likely to have a bicuspid aortic valve than those aged 65-80 years (3,472/13,755 [25.2%] vs. 9,552/125,001 [7.6%], respectively; p < 0.001). They were more likely to have congestive heart failure, chronic lung disease, diabetes, immunocompromise, and end-stage kidney disease receiving dialysis. Patients younger than 65 years had worse baseline quality of life (mean [SD] Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire score, 47.7 [26.3] vs. 52.9 [25.8], respectively; p < 0.001) and mean (SD) gait speed (5-meter walk test, 6.6 [5.8] seconds vs. 7.0 [4.9] seconds, respectively; p < 0.001) than those aged 65-80 years. At 1 year, patients younger than 65 years had significantly higher readmission rates (2,740 [28.2%] vs. 23,178 [26.1%]; p < 0.001) and all-cause mortality (908 [9.9%] vs. 6,877 [8.2%]; p < 0.001) than older patients. When propensity matched, younger patients still had higher 1-year readmission rates (2,732 [28.2%] vs. 2,589 [26.8%]; p < 0.03) with similar mortality to their older counterparts (905 [9.9%] vs. 827 [10.1%]; p = 0.55).