European Journal of Internal Medicine
Volume 18, Issue 3 , Pages 215-220, May 2007

NT-pro-BNP is associated with long-term outcome in a heterogeneous sample of cardiac inpatients

  • Roman Pfister

      Affiliations

    • Department III of Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Josef-Stelzmann Str. 9, 50924 Cologne, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +49 221 478 6205; fax: +49 221 478 6574.
    • ,
  • Dajana Tan

      Affiliations

    • Department III of Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Josef-Stelzmann Str. 9, 50924 Cologne, Germany
    • ,
  • Jaimy Thekkanal

      Affiliations

    • Department III of Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Josef-Stelzmann Str. 9, 50924 Cologne, Germany
    • Died in 2004.
    • ,
  • Martin Hellmich

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Epidemiology, University of Cologne, Germany
    • ,
  • Christian Alfons Schneider

      Affiliations

    • Department III of Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Josef-Stelzmann Str. 9, 50924 Cologne, Germany

Received 27 June 2006; received in revised form 22 September 2006; accepted 2 November 2006.

Abstract 

Background

B-type natriuretic peptides (NP) are excellent predictors of mortality in selected patients with heart failure and coronary heart disease. Up to now, the association of NPs with cardiovascular outcome has not been evaluated in multi-morbid populations with a broad spectrum of cardiovascular disease.

Methods

NT-pro-BNP was measured at discharge in 615 inpatients from a cardiology department of a university hospital. The association of discharge NT-pro-BNP with long-term outcome was examined during a median follow-up time of 1130 days.

Results

NT-pro-BNP was significantly elevated in patients who died, developed ischemic stroke, or were hospitalized due to acute heart failure, but not in patients who developed myocardial infarction or underwent coronary angioplasty compared to patients without any endpoint. Patients with supramedian NT-pro-BNP values (>339 pg/ml) had significantly worse outcomes with respect to the combined endpoint (CE) of death, heart failure hospitalization, and stroke than patients with inframedian NT-pro-BNP values. After adjusting for age, gender, renal function, NYHA class, presence of diabetes, coronary 3-vessel disease, systolic and valvular dysfunction, NT-pro-BNP was a significant predictor of the CE. The AUC for NT-pro-BNP to predict the CE was 0.79 in the total population, 0.81 in patients with coronary heart disease or acute heart failure, and 0.74 in patients with other diagnoses. A NT-pro-BNP cut-off value of 240 pg/ml revealed a negative predictive value of more than 93% in all three groups.

Conclusion

In a heterogeneous population of hospitalized cardiac patients, NT-pro-BNP measured at discharge predicts a poor cardiovascular outcome, independently of the cardiologic diagnosis and traditional risk factors.

Keywords: Heart failure, NT-pro-BNP, Natriuretic peptides, Prognosis, Cardiovascular disease

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PII: S0953-6205(07)00035-0

doi:10.1016/j.ejim.2006.11.007

European Journal of Internal Medicine
Volume 18, Issue 3 , Pages 215-220, May 2007

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