ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of statins on amino-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), grade of New York Heart Association (NYHA), and ejection fraction (EF) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) using marginal structural model. MethodsA total of 297 patients with CHF from two medical centers in Shanxi province were sequentially enrolled from January 2018 to December 2020. The medical records were collected. Confounding factors were analyzed by t-test, Chi-square test and logistic regression. The random forest algorithm was used to estimate the weight of inverse probability. The marginal structural model was applied to evaluate the effects of statins. ResultsUsing logistic regression to exclude the influence of baseline confounders, the results showed that statins had no significant effect on the level of NT-proBNP in patients with CHF. The marginal structural model which excluded the influence of baseline confounders, time-dependent confounders and treatment conversion factors showed that statins significantly reduced NT-proBNP (OR=0.699, 95%CI 0.528 to 0.926, P=0.012). Statins had no significant effects on NYHA and EF. ConclusionStatins can effectively reduce the level of NT-proBNP in patients with CHF.
Objective
To assess the correlation between central sleep apnea (CSA) and serum leptin (LEP) levels in patients with chronic heart failure.
Methods
The level of serum LEP and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were measured by forward-looking method in patients with chronic heart failure who underwent polysomnography during hospitalization from December 2015 to April 2017 in Department of Cardiology and Respiratory Medicine, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. And its correlation with CSA was analyzed. Patients were divided into three groups according to the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and then according to the presence or absence of CSA into CSA group and without SDB group.
Results
Of the 71 patients with heart failure, 31 had LVEF≥45%, 19 were between 35% and 45% and 21 were≤35% ; 32 of whom were CSA and 39 had no SDB. The lEP concentrations in the LVEF subgroup of CSA groups were significantly lower than those in the control group without SDB, with significantly higher levels of NT-proBNP. Logistic regression showed that CSA was associated with logarithmic LEP (lnLEP) (OR=0.047, 0.030, 0.021, P<0.05). In severe heart failure (LVEF≤35%) group, high NT-proBNP was the risk of CSA (OR=5.942, P=0.045) and the incidence of CSA was as high as 71.4%, which was significantly higher than other groups. However, after adjustment for confounding factors such as age, sex and body mass index (BMI), the correlation no longer existed (OR=6.432, P=0.105). Moreover, CSA with severe cardiac insufficiency had lower LEP than those without SDB. After adjustment for confounding factors such as age, sex and BMI, CSA and lnLEP remained significantly correlated (OR=0.013, P=0.002). Meanwhile, linear correlation analysis also showed that NT-proBNP was negatively correlated with lnLEP (R=–0.751, P<0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, and BMI, this relationship still existed (R=–0.607, P=0.004).
Conclusion
Decreased levels of leptin and elevated NT-proBNP in patients with chronic heart failure may indicate the presence of CSA.
Objective
To explore the effect of motivational interviewing (MI) on medication compliance and self-management behaviors of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).
Methods
Between April 2013 and May 2015, 200 cases of CHF were randomly divided into control group (n=98) and MI group (n=102). Patients in the control group received routine nursing measures only. On the basis of routine nursing measures, patients in the MI group received MI program throughout the whole process inside and outside the hospital. The main contents of MI were medication compliance and self-management, to find the existing problems in patients’ daily living and make solutions with the patients. At the time of admission and 6 months after discharge, the Compliance Scale for Drug Treatment of Hypertension and the Self-management Scale for Patients with Heart Failure were conducted to asses the medication compliance and self-management behaviors of the two groups.
Results
Six months after discharge, the compliance level in the MI group was improved than that on admission with a significant difference (P<0.05), while the medication compliance in the control group was not improved significantly compared with that on admission (P>0.05). In the aspect of self-management, there was no significant difference in the control group between 6 months after discharge and on admission time (P>0.05); while the scores of diet management, drug management, symptom management, and psychological and social adjustment in the MI group (12.9±2.5, 16.1±2.8, 17.3±3.1, 17.0±2.4, respectively) were higer than those on admission (9.9±1.9, 13.3±2.7, 13.7±2.6, 12.8±2.2, respectively), with statistically significant differences (P<0.05).
Conclusion
MI can prompt CHF patients to improve medication compliance and the ability of self-management, and adopt a more healthy lifestyle.
ObjectivesTo systematically assess the efficacy and safety of nitrates for patients with chronic heart failure.
MethodWe searched PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2016), CBM, CNKI, VIP, and WanFang Data to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cross-over studies about nitrates in the treatment of heart failure from inception to January 4th 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and evaluated the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.3 software.
ResultsTen trials were included involving 414 patients (195 patients in the nitrates group and 219 patients in the control group). The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the control group, the nitrates group could reduce arterial blood pressure (MD=-1.91, 95%CI -3.66 to -0.16, P=0.03), pulmonary wedge pressure vessels (PCWP) (MD=-2.00, 95%CI -3.84 to -0.15, P=0.03), increase cardiac index (CI) (MD=0.25, 95%CI 0.09 to 0.42, P=0.003), treadmill exercise time (MD=70.14, 95%CI 55.22 to 85.05, P < 0.000 01); but easily emerge side effects (OR=5.21, 95%CI 2.60 to 10.41, P < 0.000 01).
ConclusionCurrent evidence indicates that nitrates treatment could improve the hemodynamic effect, enhance cardiac output and increase exercise tolerance in patients with heart failure.
Objective To survey the prevalence of coexisting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD) and chronic heart failure in Chengdu communities. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in the population aged over 40 years in eight communities of Chengdu city. The subjects were selected by stratified cluster random sampling. Using the same protocol and questionnaire, all participants underwent medical history taking, physical examination and spirometry. Results Of 354 participating patients with a diagnosis of COPD, 74 ( 20. 90% ) cases were complicated with chronic heart failure. The prevalence of chronic heart failure in COPD in male was significantly higher than that in female ( 22. 69%vs. 18. 12% , P lt; 0. 05) . The major causes of chronic heart failure were hypertension ( 31. 64% ) , ischaemic heart disease ( 18. 93% ) , chronic pulonary heart disease ( 17. 51% ) and diabetes ( 11. 86% ) .Conclusions The prevalence of coexisting COPD and chronic heart failure in Chengdu city is significantly higher than the average level of the whole country, which warrant more attention in prevention and treatment of COPD in communities.
ObjectiveTo investigate the role of mindfulness-based stress reduction in improving anxiety and depression in elderly patients with chronic heart failure.MethodsFrom August 2016 to August 2018, a total of 196 elderly patients with chronic heart failure were randomly divided into the treatment group and the control group, with 98 cases in each group. The control group received routine care. The treatment group received routine care plus mindfulness-based stress reduction in two 60-minute sessions a week for 8 weeks. The level of serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) was detected by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured by echocardiography before intervention and at week 8 of intervention; the effective rate was calculated. Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and General Well-Being scale (GWB) were used to assess the degree of anxiety, depression, and well-being of patients before intervention and at week 8 of intervention.ResultsThe serum NT-proBNP levels at week 8 of intervention in the two groups were lower than those before intervention, and the LVEFs were higher than those before intervention (P<0.05). The treatment group showed significant changes when compared with the control group (P<0.05). The effective rate of the treatment group was higher than that of the control group (89.80% vs. 69.39%, P<0.05). Before intervention, the SAS scores in the treatment group and the control group were 56.61±8.25 and 55.98±6.32, respectively, the SDS scores were 59.98±7.21 and 58.86±6.17, respectively, and the GWB scores were 53.19±12.38 and 54.06±10.93, respectively; at week 8 of intervention, the SAS scores in the treatment group and the control group were 40.56±8.17 and 46.25±5.43, respectively, the SDS scores were 42.85±5.77 and 48.34±8.01, respectively, and the GWB scores were 76.17±9.63 and 68.58±13.30, respectively. At week 8 of intervention, the SAS and SDS scores of the two groups were both lower than those before intervention, and the GWB scores were higher than those before intervention (P<0.05). The treatment group showed significant changes when compared with the control group (P<0.05).ConclusionMindfulness-based stress reduction can improve the anxiety and depression of elderly patients with chronic heart failure, improve their well-being and promote the recovery of heart function.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the association of body mass index (BMI) and mortality in chronic heart failure (CHF) pationts.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect cohort studies about the association of BMI and mortality in CHF patients from inception to June, 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software.ResultsA total of 20 cohort studies involving 91 572 CHF patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared to patients with normal weight, underweight individuals were associated with higher mortality (HR=1.48, 95%CI 1.36 to 1.62, P<0.001), whereas overweight (HR=0.86, 95%CI 0.78 to 0.94, P=0.002) and obese (HR=0.78, 95%CI 0.68 to 0.90, P=0.001) patients were associated with lower mortality.ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that underweight is associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality among patients with CHF, whereas overweight and obese are associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) for cardiac dyspnea.Methods Plasma BNP levels were measured by radioimmunoassay in dyspnea patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) (n=52) or without CHF (n=30) and normal control group (n=28).Results The BNP level in dyspnea patients with CHF was significantly higher than that of dyspnea patients without CHF and normal control group [(649.80±141.72) pg/mL vs (59.08±18.60) pg/mL and (65.20±16.32) pg/mL，respectively,Plt;0.05].There was no significant difference of BNP level between dyspnea patients without CHF and normal group (Pgt;0.05).The plasma BNP level elevated with the worsening of heart failure (NYHA Classiffication).The BNP level in dyspnea patients with CHF was negatively correlated with left ventricle ejection fraction (r=－0.673，Plt;0.001).The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) is 0.91(0.88-0.98，Plt;0.001) with a sensitivity of 87.2% and a specificity of 86.8% at the cutoff value of 206 pg/mL.Conclusion Measurement of plasma BNP is a rapid diagnostic method for cardiac dyspnea.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the methodological quality of clinical practice guidelines and expert consensus of chronic heart failure domestically and abroad.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, SinoMed, CNKI, WanFang Data, and VIP databases, and related websites were searched to collect guidelines and expert consensus on chronic heart failure published from January 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2020. Four reviewers evaluated the methodological quality of the guidelines and expert consensus with the AGREE Ⅱ tool after the consistency evaluation training.ResultsA total of 17 studies were included (consisting of 11 English and 6 Chinese studies). The recommended levels were B level (recommend after modification) for 10 studies and C level (not recommended) for 7 studies. The AGREE Ⅱ standardized mean scores for various fields were 69.61% (scope and purpose), 34.20% (stakeholder involvement), 33.13% (rigor of development), 84.53% (clarity and presentation), 42.40% (applicability), and 37.09% (editorial independence). The methodological quality of English guidelines was generally high (level B for 10 and level C for 1), while all scores of Chinese guidelines or consensus in the 6 fields were mostly lower than the average (level C for 6).ConclusionsThe guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic heart failure requires further improvement in terms of stakeholder involvement and rigor of development. It should develop standards and methods to improve the quality for Chinese guidelines and expert consensus to better serve clinical practice.
Objective To analyze the substitution mechanism of surrogate endpoints for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinical efficacy evaluation of chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods To obtain data from the occurrence of surrogate endpoints and cardiogenic death of patients with CHF in 7 hospitals. The causal relationship between surrogate endpoints and cardiogenic mortality was inferred by the Bayesian network model, and the interaction among surrogate endpoints was analyzed by non-conditional logistic regression model. Results A total of 2 961 patients with CHF were included. The results of Bayesian network causal inference showed that cardiogenic mortality had a causal relationship with the surrogate endpoints including NYHA classification (P=0.46), amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (P=0.24), left ventricular ejaculation fraction (LVEF) (P=0.19), and hemoglobin (HB) (P=0.11); non-conditional logistic regression analysis showed that NYHA classification had interaction with NT-proBNP, LVEF, and HB prior to and after adjusting confounders. Conclusions The substitution capability of surrogate endpoints for TCM clinical efficacy evaluation of CHF for cardiogenic mortality are NYHA classification, NT-proBNP, LVEF, and HB in turn, and there is a multiplicative interaction between the main surrogate endpoint NYHA classification and the secondary surrogate endpoints including NT-proBNP, LVEF, and HB, suggesting that when the two surrogate endpoints with interaction exist at the same time, it can enhance the substitution capability of surrogate endpoints for cardiogenic mortality.
