title: Practical use of natriuretic peptide measurement: questionnaire results from general practitioners and cardiologists.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate the knowledge regarding B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP)/N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) measurement among doctors using this biomarker.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a questionnaire-based study on the use of BNP/NT-proBNP measurement among doctors; 21 general practitioners and 23 randomly chosen doctors at cardiology departments were interviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  12 general practitioners (57%) answered 'yes', eight (38%) answered 'no' and one (5%) was 'undecided' for use of BNP/NT-proBNP measurement to exclude a diagnosis of heart failure. Among cardiologists, 11 (48%) answered 'yes', ten (43%) answered 'no' and two (9%) were 'undecided' (no difference between groups, p = 0.56). The majority of doctors were familiar with BNP/NT-proBNP being affected by age but were unaware of the impact of gender and obesity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We propose that BNP/NT-proBNP measurement results should be supplied with age- and gender-related cut-off values, along with a notion of the negative predictive value and other parameters affecting the concentration in plasma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Husby
authors.forename: Bent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lind
authors.forename: Jens P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Goetze
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002309:Cardiology; D019963:Clinical Chemistry Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058005:General Practitioners; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000032:analysis*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000032:analysis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain