title: Serum heart-type fatty acid binding protein predicts cardiac events in elderly patients with chronic heart failure.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: The First Department of Internal Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata. takeishi@med.id.yamagata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niizeki
authors.forename: Yasuchika
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeishi
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arimoto
authors.forename: Hidenobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okuyama
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takabatake
authors.forename: Hidetada
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tachibana
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hirono
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyashita
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Yo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shishido
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kubota
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins