Screening for cardiac dysfunction in asymptomatic patients by measuring B-type natriuretic peptide levels

Abstract

Early diagnosis and treatment of heart failure lead to improved survival; pre-clinical detection would thus be beneficial. A non-invasive biochemical testing method would indeed be ideal to screen for the condition. In the present study, we sought to determine whether circulating levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) correlate with cardiac function in asymptomatic subjects. 294 consenting asymptomatic subjects were examined. BNP levels in elevated patients (> 18.4 pg/ml) showed significant correlation with echocardiographic parameters of the systolic and diastolic functions (EF r = -0.51, FS r = -0.50, E/A r = 0.42, p < 0.01). Moderate correlation with the CTR on chest X-ray was also seen (r = 0.23, p < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed numerous echocardiographic and hemodynamic parameters including those of systolic and diastolic function in addition to left ventricular wall thickness, blood pressure and serum creatinine levels to be significantly associated with raised BNP levels. Elevated BNP levels reflect cardiac function (both systolic and diastolic) in the asymptomatic population. Detection of cardiac dysfunc tion by the non-invasive biochemical test may prove useful in early pre-clinical diagnosis of heart failure.