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TORONTO—According to a new study published in Circulation, the use of N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) results in patients arriving at hospital may have a significant impact on patient diagnosis and treatment, as well as on direct costs to the Canadian healthcare system. The multicenter study, led by cardiologist Dr. Gordon Moe of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, involved 500 patients presenting with shortness of breath.
Patients were first diagnosed on the basis of clinical judgement, blinded to NT-proBNP levels measured upon admission and 72 hours later. The patients were then divided into two treatment groups: those receiving standard care and those receiving care guided by NT-proBNP test results.
The researchers found that knowledge of NT-proBNP results reduced the duration of ED visit by 21%, the number of patients re-hospitalized over 60 days by 35%, and direct medical costs over 60 days by 15%. The last point represents a potential saving to the Canadian economy of approximately $210 million.
“In a universal-access, publicly funded healthcare system like we have in Canada, we have to mandate judicious resource allocation,” Moe says. “A strategy that uses NT-proBNP in conjunction with clinical assessment improves the overall management of patients presenting to the emergency department with suspected acute HF through the facilitation of diagnosis, and provides health cost savings that are accompanied by an improvement in selected clinical outcomes.”
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