• Cathrine W Knudsen, Paul Clopton, Arne Westheim, Tor Ole Klemsdal, Alan H B Wu, Philippe Duc, James McCord, Richard M Nowak, Judd E Hollander, Alan B Storrow, William T Abraham, Peter A McCullough, Alan S Maisel, and Torbjørn Omland.
• University of California, San Diego, Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA.
• Ann Emerg Med. 2005 Jun 1;45(6):573-80.

Study ObjectiveB-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is an established tool for the diagnosis of acute congestive heart failure in patients presenting with dyspnea. Some patients have moderately elevated BNP levels (ie, 100 to 500 pg/mL) in the absence of acute congestive heart failure. The objective of the current study was to identify independent predictors of elevated BNP concentrations in the absence of congestive heart failure.MethodsWe studied 781 patients without acute congestive heart failure and BNP levels 0 to 500 pg/mL drawn from a cohort of 1,586 patients with acute dyspnea who had BNP levels measured on emergency department arrival. Two cardiologists blinded to BNP results reviewed all clinical data and categorized patients according to whether they had acute congestive heart failure or not.ResultsIndependent predictors of elevated BNP levels (ie, >100 pg/mL) were a medical history of atrial fibrillation, radiographic cardiomegaly, decreased blood hemoglobin concentration, decreased body mass index, and increased age.ConclusionKnowledge of these commonly obtained variables should aid clinicians in the interpretation of moderately elevated BNP results in patients presenting with acute dyspnea in the emergency department.

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