Background: Combining testing for natriuretic peptides [amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP)] and cardiac troponin T (cTnT) may help predict mortality in patients with acute heart failure (HF).
Methods: We studied 209 patients with acute HF at an urban academic center and used ROC curves and multivariate analyses to examine the relationship of outcome to natriuretic peptide and cTnT concentrations at presentation.
Results: Higher concentrations of natriuretic peptides and cTnT at presentation were predictors of death at 60 days and 1 year (P <0.001 and P <0.01, respectively, at both time points). Optimal cutoff points for NT-proBNP, BNP, and cTnT for predicting death by 60 days or 1 year were 5562 and 3174 ng/L, 428 and 352 ng/L, and 0.01 and 0.01 microg/L, respectively. Most decedents demonstrated increased concentrations of both natriuretic peptides and cTnT and had a 25% mortality rate at the 60-day time point (P <0.001). Mortality rates were low (<4%) among patients with either no increase or an increase in only 1 marker. Decedents with increases in both a natriuretic peptide and cTnT at presentation had the highest death rate at 1 year (45%, P <0.001). This combination was strongly predictive of death [NT-proBNP plus cTnT: hazard ratio (HR), 7.66; 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.06-17.8; BNP plus cTnT: HR, 6.82; 95% CI, 2.99-16.5].
Conclusions: A dual-marker strategy incorporating a natriuretic peptide and cTnT is superior to either marker alone for estimating short- and longer-term risk in patients with acute HF.