N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations in hemodialysis patients: prognostic value of baseline and follow-up measurements.
BACKGROUND
Increased N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations are associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in chronic hemodialysis patients. Previous studies focused on prevalent dialysis patients and examined single measurements of NT-proBNP in time.


METHODS
We measured NT-proBNP concentrations in 2990 incident hemodialysis patients to examine the risk of 90-day and 1-year mortality associated with baseline NT-proBNP concentrations. In addition, we calculated the change in concentrations after 3 months in a subset of 585 patients to examine the association between longitudinal changes in NT-proBNP and subsequent mortality.


RESULTS
Increasing quartiles of NT-proBNP were associated with a monotonic increase in 90-day [quartile 1, referent; from quartile 2 to quartile 4, hazard ratio (HR) 1.7-6.3, P < 0.001] and 1-year (quartile 1, referent; from quartile 2 to quartile 4, HR 1.7-4.9, P < 0.001) all-cause mortality. After multivariable adjustment, these associations remained robust. When examined using a multivariable fractional polynomial, increased NT-proBNP concentrations were associated with increased 90-day (HR per unit increase in log NT-proBNP 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.7) and 1-year (HR per unit increase in log NT-proBNP 1.4, 95% CI 1.3-1.5) all-cause mortality. In addition, patients with the greatest increase in NT-proBNP after 3 months of dialysis had a 2.4-fold higher risk of mortality than those with the greatest decrease in NT-proBNP.


CONCLUSIONS
NT-proBNP concentrations are independently associated with mortality in incident hemodialysis patients. Furthermore, the observation that longitudinal changes in NT-proBNP concentrations were associated with subsequent mortality suggests that monitoring serial NT-proBNP concentrations may represent a novel tool for assessing adequacy and guiding therapy in patients initiating hemodialysis.
Gutiérrez
Orlando M
OM
Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ogutierrez2@med.miami.edu
Tamez
Hector
H
Bhan
Ishir
I
Zazra
James
J
Tonelli
Marcello
M
Wolf
Myles
M
Januzzi
James L
JL
Chang
Yuchiao
Y
Thadhani
Ravi
R
D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000401:mortality*
D010446:Peptide Fragments; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain