Serum heart-type fatty acid binding protein predicts cardiac events in elderly patients with chronic heart failure.
OBJECTIVE
Heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) is released into the circulation from the damaged myocardium of patients with severe chronic heart failure. Chronic heart failure is the most frequent cause of death and disability in the elderly. However, there are no data for the prognostic value of H-FABP in the elderly population. This study investigated whether H-FABP can effectively predict the prognosis in elderly patients (> or = 70 years) with chronic heart failure.


METHODS
Serum H-FABP levels were measured in 90 chronic heart failure patients > or =70 years old (mean age 77 +/- 4 years, range 70-92 years), and patients were followed-up for 421 +/- 326 days.


RESULTS
There were 35 cardiac events (38.9%) including cardiac deaths and readmissions for worsening chronic heart failure. Multivariate analysis with the Cox proportional hazard model showed that H-FABP was the only independent predictor of cardiac events (chi2 = 6.640, p = 0.0100). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that H-FABP effectively risk stratified elderly patients with chronic heart failure for cardiac events.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that H-FABP is a reliable marker for prognosis in elderly patients with chronic heart failure.
Niizeki
Takeshi
T
The First Department of Internal Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata. takeishi@med.id.yamagata-u.ac.jp
Takeishi
Yasuchika
Y
Arimoto
Takanori
T
Okuyama
Hidenobu
H
Takabatake
Noriaki
N
Tachibana
Hidetada
H
Nozaki
Naoki
N
Hirono
Osamu
O
Tsunoda
Yuichi
Y
Miyashita
Takehiko
T
Fukui
Akio
A
Takahashi
Hiroki
H
Koyama
Yo
Y
Shishido
Tetsuro
T
Kubota
Isao
I
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D015415:Biomarkers; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins