[Utility of NT-proBNP for diagnosing heart failure in a heterogeneous population of patients with dyspnea. Spanish multicenter study].
OBJECTIVE
Recent studies have shown that brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) are useful in the diagnosis of heart failure in patients presenting with dyspnea. However, the cutoff values used with these markers vary according to patient characteristics and dyspnea severity. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of using the plasma NT-proBNP level for identifying heart failure in a heterogeneous population of patients with dyspnea.


METHODS
A multicentre study involving 247 consecutive patients with recent-onset dyspnea was carried out at 12 Spanish hospitals. Patients previously diagnosed with heart failure or any other condition known to cause dyspnea were excluded.


RESULTS
Of the 247 patients, 161 (65%) had heart failure. The remaining 86 (35%) presented with dyspnea of non-cardiac origin. Plasma NT-proBNP levels were higher in patients with heart failure (5600 [7988] pg/mL vs 1182 [4406] pg/mL; P=.0001), and increased as functional status deteriorated (P=.036). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.87 (0.02) (95% CI, 0.81-0.91) for the optimum cutoff value of 1335 pg/mL. The sensitivity of this cutoff value for diagnosing heart failure was 77% (95% CI, 70%-83%), the specificity was 92% (95% CI, 84%-97%), the positive predictive value was 94%, and the negative predictive value was 68%.


CONCLUSIONS
The plasma NT-proBNP concentration provides an accurate means of diagnosing heart failure. However, the negative predictive value found in this study was somewhat lower than the values found in previous studies involving more homogeneous patient populations.
Anguita
Manuel
M
Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Reina Sofía, Damasco 2, 2o 9, 14004 Córdoba, Spain. manuelp.anguita.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es
Montes
Pedro
P
Jordán
Alejandro
A
Casares
Gerardo
G
Gómez
Inés
I
Recio
Jesús
J
Martínez
Angel
A
Zumalde
Javier
J
Povar
Javier
J
Ridocci
Francisco
F
Roig
Eulalia
E
Batlle
Elena
E
D000368:Aged; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D013030:Spain
D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011498:Protein Precursors; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain