N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and risk of cardiovascular events in a Japanese community: the Hisayama study.

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have examined the association between natriuretic peptides and the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Asian populations.

METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 3104 community-dwelling Japanese individuals aged ≥40 years without history of CVD were followed up for 5 years. A total of 127 CVD events were identified. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of CVD increased with increasing N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels (<55, 55-124, 125-399, and ≥400 pg/mL) at baseline and was significantly higher even in subjects with a modest increase. This association remained robust even after adjustment for other potential risk factors (55-124 pg/mL: multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio=1.85 [95% CI 1.07-3.18], P=0.03; 125-399 pg/mL: 2.98 [95% CI 1.65-5.39], P<0.001; ≥400 pg/mL: 4.54 [95% CI 2.22-9.29], P<0.001). The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios for the development of total CVD and its subtypes, coronary heart disease and stroke, were significantly increased by a 1 SD increment of the log NT-proBNP concentrations and were nearly equal among CVD subtypes. Similar findings were observed for stroke subtypes of ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage but not subarachnoid hemorrhage. The effects of the 1 SD increment in log NT-proBNP values were comparable in subjects with and without other cardiovascular risk factors, except for sex. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was significantly (P=0.006) increased by adding NT-proBNP values to the model including other potential risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS: Elevated NT-proBNP levels were shown to be a significant risk factor for the development of CVD and its subtypes in a general Japanese population, independently of other cardiovascular risk factors.