title: Brain natriuretic peptide detects cardiac abnormalities in mass screening.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is elevated in asymptomatic patients with various cardiac abnormalities. We tested the hypothesis that measuring BNP is useful for detecting asymptomatic patients with cardiac abnormalities who are not identified by conventional health check-up programmes.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2001 to 2002, 6189 subjects (women 34.0%; mean age 56.6 years) underwent multiphasic health check-ups in our hospital, of which 4818 without cardiac abnormalities as revealed by the health check-up were enrolled in the present study. Their plasma concentrations of BNP were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma concentrations of BNP were higher than the normal reference upper limit of our hospital (21.3 pg mL(-1)) in 925 of the 4818 subjects. Echocardiography was performed in 471 subjects who were randomly selected from the 925 subjects with elevated BNP. Abnormal findings were detected in 174 subjects, comprising valvular heart disease in 83, systolic dysfunction in 10, diastolic dysfunction in 54, left ventricular hypertrophy in 41, left ventricular enlargement in 11, left atrial enlargement in 13 and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in 3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Since BNP measurement identifies additional subjects with cardiac abnormalities, it is useful for detecting asymptomatic cardiac abnormalities among apparently healthy subjects, and is suitable for use in high-quality mass screening.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Enshu General Hospital, 144-6 Tokiwa-cho, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 430-0917, Japan. h-takase@ken.ja-shizuoka.or.jp
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Takase
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Toriyama
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Sugiura
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Takahashi
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Sugiyama
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Ohashi
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Ueda
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Dohi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor