B-type natriuretic peptide: a strong predictor of early and late mortality in patients with acute chest pain without ST-segment elevation in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic importance of early measurement of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients with acute chest pain while the diagnosis is still uncertain is unknown. We determined the prognostic value of BNP in these patients immediately after presenting to the emergency department.
METHODS: Seven hundred and twenty-three consecutive individuals with suspicious ischemic acute chest pain and no ST-segment elevation were prospectively evaluated using a systematic diagnostic strategy and followed for 1 year. Acute coronary syndrome was diagnosed in 326 patients during their hospital stay.
RESULTS: In the follow-up, 15 (2.1%) patients of the whole cohort died of cardiac cause at 1 month and 51 (7.1%) at 1 year. Patients who died had significantly higher admission BNP levels than survivors and this correlation proved linear according to quartile levels. Patients with BNP greater than 101 pg/ml had 13 times higher rate of 1-month mortality (P<0.0001) and 5.3 times higher rate of 1-year mortality (P<0.0001) than patients with BNP of 101 pg/ml or less. Multiple logistic regression analysis disclosed BNP as a strong independent predictor of 1-month and 1-year mortality adding significant prognostic information over traditional risk markers.
CONCLUSION: Admission BNP is an independent and powerful marker of early and late cardiac mortality in patients with acute chest pain without ST-segment elevation. These results suggest that BNP should be measured upon arrival at the emergency department for risk stratification in all these patients.