N-terminal pro B-Type natriuretic peptide is inversely correlated with low density lipoprotein cholesterol in the very elderly
Introduction
Cardiac natriuretic peptides (NPs) play a relevant role not only in blood pressure (BP) regulation, blood volume and sodium balances, but also in glucose and lipid metabolisms in both adipose and muscle tissues [1]. Scientific evidence suggests that higher NPs levels are associated with less obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and a decreased risk of incident type 2 diabetes (DM2) [2]. Cardiac NPs system includes atrial NP (ANP) and B-type NP (BNP). ANP is likely to have a more physiological action, by influencing and controlling normal cardio–renal activities, while BNP is released mainly in response to muscular wall stretch, resulting from increased intravascular volume and/or cardiac transmural pressure, in conditions of cardiac stress, such as heart failure (HF) [3]. In common clinical practice, BNP and N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) tests are recommended by guidelines for diagnosis, prognosis and guided therapy of HF, and also for risk stratification in patients with acute coronary syndromes [4]. Elderly patients have often raised NT-proBNP levels, due to the high prevalence of heart diseases [5]. Previous studies have evaluated the associations between plasma NPs levels, lipid profile and prevalence of dyslipidemia. However, most of these studies did not involve elderly subjects [6], [7]. To date, there is still conflicting evidence on the relationship between lipid profile and pathological levels of NPs. In a large cardiovascular (CV) disease-free cohort, the relationship was lost for higher NT-proBNP values [8]. Hypothesizing that NPs might affect lipid metabolism not only at physiological range, but also at pathological levels, we investigated the associations between plasma NT-proBNP levels and lipid profile in a “real life” clinical setting, by analyzing very elderly patients hospitalized for medical conditions.
Section snippets
Study population
Cross-sectional study on 288 very elderly consecutively admitted to an Internal Medicine and Geriatrics Department, from January 2015 to December 2016. We considered the following exclusion criteria: current therapy with lipid-lowering drugs or other drugs that could affect lipid profile (for example corticosteroids), clinical conditions that could affect lipid profile such as dysthyroidism, end-stage renal or liver diseases, advanced cancer and cachexia and an admission diagnosis of acute HF
Results
General characteristics of the studied population are summarized in Table 1. Mean age was 87.7 ± 6.2 years, with female prevalence (57.3%). Main admission diagnoses were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation (32.9%), pneumonia (23.6%), urinary tract infections or other infections (20.1%). Each patient could have more than one admission diagnosis. A significantly reduced renal function (eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m2) was found in 43.1% of patients. Atrial fibrillation was found in
Discussion
In our “real-life” clinical study, NT-proBNP levels correlate with lipid parameters in a very elderly population. We studied very elderly patients because they often have high or very high NT-proBNP levels even without a formal HF diagnosis [5]. Higher NT-proBNP levels were associated with lower TC, LDLc and non-HDLc, even after adjusting for confounding factors. CV diseases (CVD) are leading causes of disability and death worldwide, especially in the elderly [13]. The association between
Conclusion
An association between NPs in the physiological range and lipid metabolism was found in previous studies. Circulating lipid levels can be reduced in very elderly, due to nutrition-related problems, frailty condition or end-stage organ diseases. In the present study, LDLc was inversely correlated with NT-proBNP, a biomarker of NPs secretion by the heart. This association was continuous even for higher values of NT-proBNP and independent of multiple possible confounding factors. Further basic
Funding sources
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflicts of interest statement
All authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.
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