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ABSTRACT: Aims
Obese patients have lower natriuretic peptide concentrations. We hypothesized that adjusting the concentration of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) for obesity could further increase its clinical utility in the early diagnosis of acute heart failure (AHF).Methods and results
This hypothesis was tested in a prospective diagnostic study enrolling unselected patients presenting to the emergency department with acute dyspnoea. Two independent cardiologists/internists centrally adjudicated the final diagnosis using all individual patient information including cardiac imaging. NT-proBNP plasma concentrations were applied: first, using currently recommended cut-offs; second, using cut-offs lowered by 33% with body mass index (BMI) of 30-34.9 kg/m2 and by 50% with BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2 . Among 2038 patients, 509 (25%) were obese, of which 271 (53%) had AHF. The diagnostic accuracy of NT-proBNP as quantified by the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was lower in obese versus non-obese patients (0.890 vs. 0.938). For rapid AHF rule-out in obese patients, the currently recommended cut-off of 300 pg/ml achieved a sensitivity of 96.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 93.8-98.2%), ruling out 29% of patients and missing 9 AHF patients. For rapid AHF rule-in, the age-dependent cut-off concentrations (age <50 years: 450 pg/ml; age 50-75 years: 900 pg/ml; age >75 years: 1800 pg/ml) achieved a specificity of 84.9% (95% CI 79.8-88.9%). Proportionally lowering the currently recommended cut-offs by BMI increased sensitivity to 98.2% (95% CI 95.8-99.2%), missing 5 AHF patients; reduced the proportion of AHF patients remaining in the 'gray zone' (48% vs. 26%; p = 0.002), achieving a specificity of 76.5% (95% CI 70.7-81.4%).Conclusions
Adjusting NT-proBNP concentrations for obesity seems to further increase its clinical utility in the early diagnosis of AHF.
SUBMITTER: Kozhuharov N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9804229 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Kozhuharov Nikola N Martin Jasmin J Wussler Desiree D Lopez-Ayala Pedro P Belkin Maria M Strebel Ivo I Flores Dayana D Diebold Matthias M Shrestha Samyut S Nowak Albina A Gualandro Danielle M DM Michou Eleni E Zimmermann Tobias T Rentsch Katharina K von Eckardstein Arnold A Keller Dagmar I DI Breidthardt Tobias T Mueller Christian C
European journal of heart failure 20220808 9
<h4>Aims</h4>Obese patients have lower natriuretic peptide concentrations. We hypothesized that adjusting the concentration of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) for obesity could further increase its clinical utility in the early diagnosis of acute heart failure (AHF).<h4>Methods and results</h4>This hypothesis was tested in a prospective diagnostic study enrolling unselected patients presenting to the emergency department with acute dyspnoea. Two independent cardiologists/in ...[more]