Effectiveness of natriuretic peptide-guided treatment of chronic heart failure. A meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of natriuretic peptide (NP)-guided therapy compared to clinically-guided therapy in reducing mortality and hospital admissions in chronic heart failure (HF) patients. Methods: Randomised clinical trials (RCT) were selected through a systematic review. Four meta-analyses were conducted for the outcomes of overall mortality, HF-related mortality, overall hospital admissions, and HF-related hospital admissions. Heterogeneity between studies and publication bias were also assessed. Results: Nine RCTs were found with a total of 1914 patients. NP-guided therapy significantly reduced overall mortality and HF-related hospital admissions. No significant results were found for HF-related mortality and overall hospital admissions. Some clinical heterogeneity regarding interventions performed was found between studies. Publication bias was found for HF-related and overall hospital admissions. Conclusions: NP-guided therapy seems to improve outcomes compared to clinically-guided therapy. However, heterogeneity found between interventions might reduce the generalisation of these results. Specific interventions of the clinical trials should be examined when making recommendations regarding NP-guided therapy.