Abstract:
Objective To evaluate N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in diabetic patients as well as to analyze its predictive value for all-cause death in diabetic patients.
Methods Clinical data of 18 065 patients in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2004 were analyzed in this retrospective cohort study. The definition of diabetes was based on American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria, which includes fasting blood glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L, postprandial blood glucose≥11.1 mmol/L, glycated hemoglobin≥6.5%, or confirmed diabetes. According to the latest American Heart Association (AHA) heart failure (HF) guidelines, the NT-proBNP cut-off value for the population was set at≥125 pg/mL for pre-HF group and < 125 pg/mL for non-HF group. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze all-cause mortality in two groups. Single-factor and multi-factor Cox regression analyses were used to identify the factors affecting all-cause mortality in diabetic patients.
Results Among the 18 065 patients, 9.17% had diabetes and 17.17% had pre-HF stages, of which 38.59% were in the pre-HF stages of diabetic patients. NT-proBNP levels in the diabetic and non-diabetic populations were 80.71 (33.71, 232.7) pg/mL and 38.13 (18.41, 79.55) pg/mL, respectively (P < 0.001). There was a significant positive correlation between NT-proBNP levels and glycated hemoglobin levels (β=0.20, P < 0.001). In diabetic patients, Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the survival rate was significantly decreased in the pre-HF stages group, the survival rates for two groups at 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years were 87.83%, 78.76%, and 57.19%, and 97.46%, 95.66%, and 89.73%, respectively (P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that NT-proBNP was an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality in diabetic patients (P < 0.001).
Conclusion NT-proBNP is significantly elevated in diabetic patients and is significantly associated with all-cause mortality. NT-proBNP can be used as a prognostic evaluation index for diabetes management.