It usually gets worse with time and is more common in men and in people with constant high blood pressure. The leakage may become bad enough to require heart valve replacement surgery, but this is unusual. Sometimes a portion of the heart muscle or the tissue strands that support the mitral valve become overstretched and rupture, causing a sudden increase in mitral regurgitation. The leakage may be so bad that emergency valve surgery is necessary. Prolapsed heart valves become easily infected, especially if mitral regurgitation is present.
Infection speeds up the valve damage and worsens the disease.
Your provider may prescribe antibiotics to reduce this risk. Abnormal heart rhythms are common. Most of them are of no concern except when they cause symptoms. Otherwise the heart rhythm abnormalities don't seem to be a risk. People with mitral valve prolapse have a slightly higher risk of sudden cardiac death if they have significant mitral regurgitation.