Aims: The Cardiac Resynchronization in Heart Failure (CARE-HF) study showed that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) reduces mortality in HF patients with markers of dyssynchrony. Plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) might predict which patients benefit most from CRT. We evaluated whether the prognostic value of NT-proBNP was influenced by CRT and the effects of CRT stratified according to NT-proBNP.
Methods and results: A total of 813 patients were enrolled in CARE-HF. Baseline log-transformed NT-proBNP independently predicted all-cause mortality, sudden death, and death from pump failure. In a multivariable model including log-transformed NT-proBNP, assignment to CRT remained independently associated with better prognosis without evidence of interaction. Stratifying patients according to the median NT-proBNP and to CRT treatment allocation, all-cause mortality was 12% if <median + CRT, 25% if <median + control group, 35% if >or= median + CRT, and 51% if >or= median + control group. There was no evidence of a difference in the relative effect of CRT across different values of NT-proBNP.
Conclusion: NT-proBNP retains its prognostic value in HF patients with CRT. Deploying CRT before the patients have reached end-stage HF may maximize the benefit of treatment.