N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and risk of cardiovascular events in older patients with type 2 diabetes: the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) with traditional cardiovascular risk factors and incident cardiovascular events in older people with type 2 diabetes.

In the prospective phase of the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study, 1066 men and women aged 60 to 75 years with type 2 diabetes mellitus were followed for 4 years; 112 participants had an incident cardiovascular event. At baseline, cardiovascular risk factors, pre-existing cardiovascular disease and levels of NT-proBNP were evaluated.

Raised plasma NT-proBNP levels were associated with these classical cardiovascular risk factors: increased duration of diabetes, use of insulin, raised BMI, reduced HDL-cholesterol, reduced renal function and use of lipid-lowering and anti-hypertensive medication (all p <0.05). In the prospective analysis, NT-proBNP was strongly associated with subsequent risk of all cardiovascular disease events (HR per one SD increase in NT-proBNP 1.39; 95% CI 1.10, 1.75), independent of cardiovascular risk factors traditionally used to predict vascular events. NT-proBNP was also independently associated with incident coronary artery disease events (1.48, 95% CI 1.10, 1.98). The addition of NT-proBNP to multivariate models improved the C-index by 0.019 for the 'hard' cardiac endpoint (fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction).

In older people with type 2 diabetes, NT-proBNP is associated with the development of coronary and cerebrovascular events, independent of a wide range of other vascular and metabolic risk factors, and may prove a useful addition to current vascular risk scores in diabetes populations.