title: The usefulness of brain natriuretic peptide level in diagnosis and prognosis of patients admitted to critical care unit with shortness of breath.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) is a polypeptide secreted by the ventricles as a response to cardio-myocyte stretching. Due to its cardiac origin and correlation with volume overload it has been successfully used for a long time in diagnosing and prognosticating Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective cohort study, an attempt was made to observe any correlation between admission BNP levels with APACHE II scores and length of ICU stay, in patients admitted with dyspnea to the ICU of a community based hospital.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed no significant correlation between length of stay in an ICU and admission BNP levels in dyspneic patients. Independent variables such as age and gender failed to show any coorelation either.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Yazan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abdeen
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Parijat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Syed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Safdar
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Ram
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Katapally
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Ahmad Abu
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Arqoob
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Macbruce
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shaaban
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA ; Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adelman
keywords: Brain natriuretic peptide; critical care unit; dyspnea