Volume 129, Issue 3 , Pages 388-393, 13 October 2008
Inflammatory markers in stable heart failure and their relationship with functional class☆
Abstract
Introduction and objectives
While it appears to be clear that an inflammatory process occurs in heart failure (HF), it is still to be defined whether inflammation depends to a greater extent on HF etiology, functional class (FC), or the extent of depression of ejection fraction (EF). Our objectives were to analyze differences in inflammatory marker levels as compared to a healthy population, to assess differences depending on HF etiology, and to relate values with FC and EF.
Patients and methods
Fifty-nine consecutive outpatients with stable HF (57
+/−
9 years, 89% males) and 59 controls (55
+/−
8 years, 85% males) were enrolled into the study. Causes of HF included ischemic heart disease (n
=
24), idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (n
=
24), and miscellaneous conditions (n
=
11). Patients with decompensation in the past 6 months were excluded from the study. Protein fibrinogen, sialic acid, C-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were measured. Echocardiography was performed in all study patients. FC was assessed using the NYHA classification.
Results
A comparison of inflammatory marker levels between the HF and control groups showed significant differences in all markers, except for TNF-alpha. Protein fibrinogen in controls: 253
+/−
54 mg/dl, protein fibrinogen in HF: 294
+/−
67 mg/dl; p
<
0.05. Sialic acid in controls: 53
+/−
1 mg/dl, sialic acid in HF: 61
+/−
12 mg/dl; p
<
0.05. CRP in controls: 1.3
+/−
0.7 mg/dl, CRP in HF: 7.8
+/−
1.2 mg/dl; p
<
0.05. TNF-alpha in controls: 183
+/−
51 ng/ml, TNF-alpha in HF: 203
+/−
13 ng/ml; p
=
0.2. No differences were found between the different etiologies of HF. A positive association was seen between FC and protein fibrinogen and TNF-alpha (p
<
0.05), but not with EF.
Conclusions
Increased inflammatory marker levels related to FC of the patient, but not to EF, are found in chronic HF.
Keywords: Heart failure, Inflammatory markers, Ventricular function, Functional class
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☆ This work was supported by a research grant from the Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria de Educació, Universitat I Ciència (05081).
PII: S0167-5273(07)01716-0
doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2007.07.138
© 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Refers to corrigendum:
- Corrigendum to “Inflammatory markers in stable heart failure and their relationship with functional class” Int J Cardiol 129 (2008) 388–393
Volume 129, Issue 3 , Pages 388-393, 13 October 2008
