Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017.
World J Cardiol. May 26, 2017; 9(5): 457-465
Published online May 26, 2017. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v9.i5.457
Table 1 Comparison of the clinical characteristics of patients with and without cardiac events
All patients (n = 322)Event-free (n = 205)Cardiac event (n = 117)P value
Age, yr69 ± 1367 ± 1472 ± 110.0041
Female, n (%)140 (43)92 (45)48 (41)0.5024
NYHA functional class, II/III/IV175/105/42125/53/2750/52/150.002
Etiology, n (%)0.5273
Dilated cardiomyopathy80 (25)56 (27)24 (21)
Hypertensive heart disease14 (4)10 (5)4 (3)
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy21 (7)15 (7)6 (5)
Ischemic heart disease65 (20)36 (18)29 (25)
Valvular heart disease80 (25)52 (25)28 (24)
Arrhythmia24 (7)14 (7)10 (8)
Others38 (12)22 (11)16 (14)
Atrial fibrillation, n (%)109 (34)64 (31)45 (38)0.1866
Diabetes mellitus, n (%)117 (36)71 (35)44 (38)0.5923
Dyslipidemia, n (%)87 (26)56 (26)31 (27)0.8732
Hypertension, n (%)217 (67)137 (67)80 (68)0.7758
Blood biomarkers
BNP, pg/mL (IQR)397 (135-853)314 (101-710)625 (280-1147)0.0326
H-FABP, ng/mL (IQR)4.7 (3.3-7.6)4.0 (2.9-6.3)6.0 (4.2-10.0)< 0.0001
eGFR, mL/min per 1.73 m265 ± 2269 ± 2358 ± 19< 0.0001
Echocardiographic data
LV end-diastolic diameter, mm55 ± 1054 ± 955 ± 120.6018
LV ejection fraction, %49 ± 1850 ± 1847 ± 180.1472
Electrocardiogram
Heart rate, beat/min77 ± 2278 ± 2174 ± 190.0841
QRS duration, ms107 ± 20106 ± 18109 ± 220.0989
QRS prolongation, n (%)61 (19)28 (17)33 (28)0.0014
Medications, n (%)
ACE inhibitors and/or ARBs, n (%)213 (66)138 (67)75 (64)0.5577
β-blockers, n (%)170 (53)106 (52)64 (55)0.6048
Ca channel blockers, n (%)66 (21)41 (21)25 (20)0.77
Diuretics, n (%)202 (63)111 (54)91 (78)< 0.0001
Statins, n (%)83 (26)54 (26)29 (25)0.759
Table 2 Univariate and multivariate analyses for cardiovascular events
HR95%CIP value
Univariate analysis
Age, per 10-yr increase1.2971.105-1.5240.0016
Female gender0.8290.573-1.1990.3183
NYHA functional class II and III vs IV1.9601.381-2.7470.0003
Atrial fibrillation1.2560.865-1.8240.2304
Diabetes mellitus1.1030.758-1.6050.6062
Dyslipidemia0.9580.635-1.4470.8417
Hypertension0.9860.667-1.4570.9459
BNP, per 1SD increase1.1661.019-1.3340.0249
eGFR, per 1SD increase0.5890.467-0.733< 0.0001
LV end-diastolic diameter, per 1SD increase1.0620.877-1.2800.5272
LV ejection fraction, per 1SD increase0.8810.734-1.0740.1998
Heart rate, per 1SD increase0.8690.724-1.0620.1724
High H-FABP (> 4.5 ng/mL)2.9941.996-4.504< 0.0001
QRS prolongation (≥ 120 ms)1.8971.264-2.8320.0019
Multivariate analysis
Age, per 10-yr increase1.0930.921-1.2980.3055
NYHA functional class II and III vs IV1.551.055-2.3090.0262
BNP, per 1SD increase0.9480.811-1.1510.7003
eGFR, per 1SD increase0.7330.571-0.9380.0144
High H-FABP (> 4.5 ng/mL)1.7451.088-2.7930.0210
QRS prolongation (≥ 120 ms)1.6121.060-2.4510.0258
Table 3 Clinical characteristics of the 4 subgroups of chronic heart failure patients
Normal (n = 136)QRS prolongation (n = 20)High H-FABP (n = 125)High H-FABP and QRS prolongation (n = 41)
Age, yr65 ± 1359 ± 1174 ± 11ab71 ± 13b
Female, n (%)58 (42)10 (50)55 (45)17 (41)
NYHA functional class, II/III/IV97/30/93/4/201351/54/2014/18/9e
Etiology, n (%)
Dilated cardiomyopathy33 (24)8 (40)24 (19)15 (37)
Hypertensive heart disease8 (6)1 (5)5 (4)1 (2)
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy11 (8)3 (15)6 (5)0 (0)
Ischemic heart disease21 (15)3 (15)31 (24)10 (24)
Valvular heart disease40 (30)3 (15)29 (24)8 (20)
Arrhythmia12 (9)0 (0)8 (7)4 (10)
Others11 (8)2 (10)22 (17)3 (7)
Atrial fibrillation, n (%)48 (35)7 (35)41 (33)13 (32)
Diabetes mellitus, n (%)46 (33)6 (28)46 (37)17 (41)
Dyslipidemia, n (%)39 (28)4 (20)32 (26)12 (29)
Hypertension, n (%)92 (67)11 (55)89 (72)25 (61)
Blood biomarkers
BNP, pg/mL (IQR)347 (69-453)389 (213-855)700 (311-1257)a628 (328-1075)a
H-FABP, ng/mL (IQR)3.2 (2.4-3.9)3.6 (2.8-4.2)7.6 (5.7-11.0)ab7.6 (5.7-9.8)ab
eGFR, mL/min per 1.73 m275 ± 2071 ± 2657 ± 20a52 ± 17ad
Echocardiographic data
LV end-diastolic diameter, mm52 ± 1065 ± 9ad54 ± 9b60 ± 10ac
LV ejection fraction, %55 ± 1835 ± 15a49 ± 17b38 ± 14ad
Electrocardiogram
Heart rate, beat/min78 ± 1972 ± 1379 ± 2272 ± 20
QRS duration, ms100 ± 10143 ± 23ad100 ± 10138 ± 14ad
Medications, n (%)
ACE inhibitors and/or ARBs, n (%)86 (62)13 (65)85 (69)29 (71)
β-blockers, n (%)65 (47)15 (75)64 (52)26 (63)
Ca channel blockers, n (%)36 (26)0 (0)24 (20)6 (15)
Diuretics, n (%)72 (52)14 (70)82 (67)34 (83)e
Statins, n (%)40 (29)5 (25)28 (23)10 (24)
Table 4 Statistics for model fit and improvement with the addition of high heart-type fatty acid-binding protein and QRS prolongation predicted on the prediction of cardiac events
Group 1Group 2P value
AUC of ROC curve0.6680.7060.029
NRI (95%CI)Ref0.223 (0.073-0.372)0.003
IDI (95%CI)Ref0.036 (0.015-0.056)0.016