A study of the correlation between the serum brain natriuretic peptide level and the cardiac function in patients with heart failure

Objective To investigate the correlation between the serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level and the severity of heart failure (HF) or the left ventricular function (LVF) in patients with HF. Methods 122 patients with HF before and after treatment and 20 control subjects were investigated by measuring the serum BNP level, the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD). Results The serum BNP level in patients with HF were markedly higher than those in control subjects (P0.01), but the exent of the BNP level increase was closely correlated with the severity of HF in NYHA functional class, reversely, the BNP level correlated negatively to the LVEF (r=-0.34,P0.001). After treatment the LVEDD in patients with HF was obviously improved (P0.05), however, the serum BNP level was notably decreased with the cardiac function better. Conclusions These results indicate that the exent of the BNP level increase is closely correlative with the severity of HF, furthermore, the BNP level also better reflects the LVF.