Pro-A-Type Natriuretic Peptide, Proadrenomedullin, and N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Used in a Multimarker Strategy in Primary Health Care in Risk Assessment of Patients With Symptoms of Heart Failure

Objective: Use of new biomarkers in the handling of heart failure patients has been advocated in the literature, but most often in hospital-based populations. Therefore, we wanted to evaluate whether plasma measurement of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), midregional pro A-type natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), and midregional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM), individually or combined, gives prognostic information regarding cardiovascular and all-cause mortality that could motivate use in elderly patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of heart failure in primary health care. Methods and Results: The study included 470 elderly patients (mean age 73 years) with symptoms of heart failure in primary health care. All participants underwent clinical examination, 2-dimenstional echocardiography, and plasma measurement of the 3 propeptides and were followed for 13 years. All mortality was registered during the follow-up period. The 4th quartiles of the biomarkers were applied as cutoff values. NT-proBNP exhibited the strongest prognostic information with >4-fold increased risk for cardiovascular mortality within 5 years. For all-cause mortality MR-proADM exhibited almost 2-fold and NT-proBNP 3-fold increased risk within 5 years. In the 5-13-year perspective, NT-proBNP and MR-proANP showed significant and independent cardiovascular prognostic information. NT-proBNP and MR-proADM showed significant prognostic information regarding all-cause mortality during the same time. In those with ejection fraction (EF) <40%, MR-proADM exhibited almost 5-fold increased risk of cardiovascular mortality with 5 years, whereas in those with EF >50% NT-proBNP exhibited >3-fold increased risk if analyzed as the only biomarker in the model. If instead the biomarkers were all below the cutoff value, the patients had a highly reduced mortality risk, which also could influence the handling of patients. Conclusions: The 3 biomarkers could be integrated in a multimarker strategy for use in primary health care. (J Cardiac Fail 2013;19:31-39)