Abstract
BNP concentration is highly reliable for assessing objectively the severity of heart failure (HF) and has been widely used as a biomarker to assess and monitor the severity of HF both at rest and during exercise. In contrast, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) has been widely used for noninvasive assessment of the hemodynamical severity of HF. In this study, we demonstrate whether BNP concentration measured on the same day as TTE is useful for assessing the severity of HF in comparison with echo parameters, including the estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP). Four hundred seventy-six consecutive patients with chronic HF who underwent TTE and blood sampling at the same time were recruited. Significant independent echo variables such as PASP were extracted using a multivariate logistic regression model with a dependent variable, namely, BNP concentration divided by the median. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the extracted significant variables for the BNP category. Significant factors such as PASP and E/A were extracted. As the severity of each significant factor increased, BNP concentrations concomitantly increased, and the result of ANOVA showed that the BNP concentrations were higher in the other groups than in control group (1st quartile group). As the severity of HF in relation to BMI increased, BNP concentration decreased significantly in comparison with the control group. BNP concentrations are closely related to the estimated PASP, which objectively reflects the severity of HF. Therefore, we conclude that BNP concentration is an excellent biomarker for assessing and monitoring the severity of HF.
