Heart Hormone Helps Identify Death Risk
Reported February 17, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Measuring levels of an inactive form of a hormone released by the heart can help predict mortality in coronary heart disease patients and offer better prognostic information than conventional cardiovascular disease risk factors, according to a new study.
The inactive part of the heart hormone pro-brain (B-type) natriuretic peptide (BNP) is called the N-terminal fragment pro-BNP, also known as NT-pro-BNP.
Researchers in Denmark studied the blood levels of NT-pro-BNP in 1,034 patients referred for angiography due to symptoms or signs of coronary heart disease. The rate of death from all causes was determined after a follow-up of about nine years.
In the follow-up, 288 patients had died. Results show those who survived had lower levels of NT-pro-BNP (about one-third the amount) than those who died.
The study also shows patients with NT-pro-BNP levels in the highest quartile were older and more likely to have had a history of heart attack, clinically significant coronary heart disease, and diabetes than patients with NT-pro-BNP levels in the lowest quartile.
Authors conclude, “NT-pro-BNP is a marker of long-term mortality in patients with stable coronary heart disease and provides prognostic information above and beyond that provided by conventional cardiovascular risk factors and the degree of left ventricular systolic dysfunction.”
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2005;352:665-675
