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Diagnosing heart failure in primary care: individual patient data meta-analysis of two European prospective studies

Abstract:

Aims: Natriuretic peptides are helpful in detecting chronic heart failure (HF) in primary care, however there are a lack of data evaluating thresholds recommended by clinical guidelines. This study assesses the diagnostic accuracy of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) using combined individual patient data from two studies in the UK and The Netherlands.

Methods and results: Random effects methods were used to estimate the performance characteristics of NT-proBNP thresholds recommended by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. New onset HF was diagnosed in 313 of 1073 (29.2%) participants. Age, sex and atrial fibrillation-adjusted NT-proBNP was a better predictor of HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) than preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), with area under receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.82 95% CI (0.78 to 0.86) vs. 0.71 (0.66 to 0.75). In persons aged 70 years and over, the ESC threshold at 125ng/L for detection of all-cause HF had summary negative predictive value (NPV) of 84.9% (81.6 to 88.2), positive predictive value (PPV) 68.1% (63.1 to 73.3), sensitivity 74.9% (69.5 to 80.3) and specificity 80.1% (76.9 to 83.4); the NICE threshold at 400ng/L had summary NPV of 74.7% (72.1 to 77.2), PPV 81.8% (73.3 to 89.5), sensitivity 43.5% (37.2 to 49.8) and specificity 94.5% (92.3 to 96.7).

Conclusion: NT-proBNP is better at detecting HFrEF than HFpEF in a primary care setting. In persons aged 70 and over, the ESC threshold of 125ng/L is more accurate at detecting and excluding HF than the higher level suggested in NICE guidelines. More prospective data are required to establish the optimal NP threshold for detecting chronic HF in general practice.

Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Files:
Publisher copy:
10.1002/ehf2.13311

Authors

More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Primary Care Health Sciences
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Primary Care Health Sciences
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-8926-2581
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Primary Care Health Sciences
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-7976-7172


Publisher:
Wiley
Journal:
ESC Heart Failure More from this journal
Volume:
8
Issue:
3
Pages:
2193-2201
Publication date:
2021-03-23
Acceptance date:
2021-03-09
DOI:
EISSN:
2055-5822


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1166896
Local pid:
pubs:1166896
Deposit date:
2021-03-11
ARK identifier:

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