A blood test for patients with coronary heart disease could help predict their risk for subsequent cardiovascular events or death, according to a study in the January 10 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Risk stratification for cardiovascular events among the general population and among high-risk individuals is of considerable interest because of the potential to help guide use of primary and secondary preventive therapies. Brain-type natriuretic peptide (BNP; consisting of 2 or more amino acids) and the amino terminal fragment of the prohormone BNP (NT-proBNP; a type of peptide in the blood that is a cardiac biomarker) appear to provide prognostic information in individuals following hospital admission for decompensated heart failure or acute coronary syndrome, and may also be important markers of long-term prognosis, according to background information in the article.
Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Ph.D., M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues assessed the association of plasma NT pro-BNP levels with subsequent cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, or heart failure) and death in a group of 987 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The participants were followed up for an average of 3.7 years, during which 256 patients (26.2 percent) had a cardiovascular event or died.