• Am J Emerg Med · Sep 2023

    Clinical Trial

    NT-proBNP cut-off value for ruling out heart failure in atrial fibrillation patients - A prospective clinical study.

    • Cecilie Budolfsen, Anders Sjørslev Schmidt, Kasper Glerup Lauridsen, Camilla Bang Hoeks, Farhad Waziri, Christian Bo Poulsen, Dung Nguyen Riis, Hans Rickers, and Bo Løfgren.
    • Research Center for Emergency Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; Clinical Research Unit, Randers Regional Hospital, Randers, Denmark; Department of Medicine, Randers Regional Hospital, Randers, Denmark.
    • Am J Emerg Med. 2023 Sep 1; 71: 182418-24.

    Study ObjectiveN-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) measurements can be used to rule out heart failure in patients with sinus rhythm. Atrial fibrillation often coexists with heart failure but affects NT-proBNP levels. This study aims to identify the optimal NT-proBNP cut-off value for ruling out heart failure among atrial fibrillation patients.MethodsThis prospective study included 409 atrial fibrillation patients admitted to the emergency department. The inclusion criterion was documented atrial fibrillation on a 12‑lead electrocardiogram. All patients completed a NT-proBNP blood sample, a chest X-ray and an echocardiogram. Heart failure was defined as a left ventricular ejection fraction of <40%.ResultsIn total, 409 patients were included (mean age: 75.2 ± 11.6). The median NT-proBNP level was 2577 ng/L (quartiles: 1185-5438) and 21% had heart failure. We found a lower median NT proBNP level of 3187 ± 3973 ng/L in patients without heart failure compared to 9254 ± 8008 ng/L in patients with heart failure (absolute difference: 4131, 95% (CI): 3299-4986, p < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for diagnosing heart failure was 0.82 (95% confidence interval: 0.77-0.87). The optimal cut-off value for ruling out heart failure was 739 ng/L with a sensitivity of 99%, a specificity of 18%, and a negative predictive value of 98%.ConclusionsNT-proBNP can be used to rule out heart failure in atrial fibrillation patients with a high negative predictive value, but low specificity.Trial Registration NumberNCT04125966. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04125966.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.