Relationship among body mass index, NT-proBNP, and mortality in decompensated chronic heart failure

BACKGROUND: Obesity has been suggested to confer a survival benefit in acute heart failure. The concentrations of NT-proBNP may be reduced in patients with high body mass index (BMI). OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship among BMI, NT-proBNP, and mortality risk in decompensated chronic heart failure (DCHF). METHODS: This was a retrospective study. We studied 1001 patients with DCHF. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated with Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: During the 1-year follow-up, 295 patients died. Compared with normal-weight patients, the unadjusted HR for death were 1.02 (95% CIs 0.79-1.33; p = 0.862) for patients with a BMI of 25.0-29.9 kg/m2 and 0.83 (95% CIs 0.61-1.12; p = 0.213) for patients with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2. NT-proBNP remained independently associated with mortality across the BMI categories. There was no statistically significant interaction between BMI and NT-proBNP levels for risk prediction. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity was not associated with mortality risk. NT-proBNP remained an independent prognostic factor across the BMI categories.