The Association between NTproBNP Biomarker Levels and Clinical Symptoms of Cardiac Septal Defects in Children

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In a cardiac septal defect, there is left-to-right shunt at the atrial, ventricle level, or both. This causes clinical symptoms of heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, or malnutrition. NTproBNP is synthesized and released into the circulation by the ventricular myocytes in response to pressure, volume overload, and increase in myocardial wall stress. AIM: This study aims to evaluate relationship between NTproBNP levels and clinical symptoms of cardiac septal defect. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from April to August 2021 at Moh Husin Hospital, Palembang, Indonesia. The presence of heart failure was determined using the modified Ross score. Nutritional status was defined on anthropometric measurement, and data were plot to weight to height Z-score chart. The presence of pulmonary hypertension was measured by Doppler echocardiography. RESULTS: A total of 75 cardiac septal defect patients were included in this study. A similar plasma NTproBNP of 554 pg/ml was determined as the cut-off point for predicting heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, with a sensitivity of 57.1% and 54.5%, specificity of 85% and 80.9%, with area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of 0.706 and 0.716 respectively. For malnutrition, plasma NTproBNP of 429 pg/ml was found to have sensitivity, specificity, and area under ROC of 54.3%, 77.5%, and 0.640, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression showed that NTproBNP >554 pg/ml and >429 pg/ml had a 6-fold higher odds of having heart failure, an 8-fold higher odds of having pulmonary hypertension, and a 4-fold odds of having malnutrition. CONCLUSION: NTproBNP is a biomarker that is strong enough to predict clinical symptoms of heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and malnutrition in children with cardiac septal defect.