Soluble ST2 and nutritional status in patients hospitalized with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction - pilot study

Abstract

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): Student Scientific Society Background Chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is very often accompanied by malnutrition, which seems to be a marker for poor prognosis. With still high prevalence of HFrEF new aspects of malnourishment should be assessed in order to plan a more individualized management and to achieve better prognosis. In addition to that the multimarker approach to evaluating HFrEF is gaining importance. One of the most promising new markers seems to be the soluble receptor for interleukin-33 (IL-33) - sST2 peptide. Purpose The aim of the study was to find relationship between serum sST2 level and malnourishment indicators in patients with HFrEF. Methods 33 consecutive patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology. The sST2 level was assessed using the rapid ST2 test. We assessed nutritional status with the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire and collected the chosen clinical and biochemical parameters related to nutrition. It was tested if sST2 level could predict risk of malnutrition defined as MNA score below or equal to 23.5 using ROC curve analysis. Then to further evaluate the relation between nutritional status and sST2 level appropriate correlations were tested. Results The studied group consisted of 9.1% women, mean age was 55.3 ± 10.0 years, left ventricular ejection fraction - 24.8 ± 8.7%, sST2 level - 49.84 ± 37.02 ng/ml. Using ROC curve analysis we found that sST2 levels can predict the risk of malnutrition with both considerable sensitivity – 0.786, specificity – 0.737 and an area under the curve (AUC) 0.726 (95%CI 0.548-0.903; p=0.013). The optimal cutoff point - 35 ng/ml was derived and according to this value patients were divided into two groups. MNA score was 22.4 ± 2.3 in group with high ST2 (>35 ng/ml) and 24.4 ± 2.4 in group with low ST2 (<35 ng/ml); the difference was statistically significant (p=0.026). Using Spearman’s Rank-Order Correlation we found that sST2 level correlated significantly with total protein level (p=0.0349, R=-0.46), albumin level (p<0.001, R=-0.80) and total cholesterol level (p=0.002, R=-0.52), while no relevant relation to BMI nor triglycerides was found. Conclusions The study revealed a potential value of sST2 level in predicting impaired nutritional status defined with MNA and its correlation with serum protein, albumin and total cholesterol. More research needs to be conducted in order to verify these relations and to study its usefulness.