Three biomarkers improve mortality prediction in heart patients

Researchers have found that if they add three predictive biomarkers to a model that includes established risk factors, they'll get improved prediction of mortality among heart patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

"This is one of the first studies to evaluate a multimarker approach for the prediction of baseline risk of long-term death in patients undergoing primary PCI for STEMI," the researchers wrote, according to an article in Cardiology Today. "Incorporation of...three predictive biomarkers in the multimarker risk score yields important information regarding baseline risk and mortality."

The study included 1,034 patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI. They tested whether combining N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, CRP, glucose, cardiac troponin T and estimated glomerular filtration rate improved mortality prediction. Turns out, it did. The three biomarkers identified a high-risk subgroup with a higher mortality vs. an intermediate- or low-risk subgroup.

According to Luigi Biasucci and Roberta Della Bona, both with the department of cardiology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, this finding will lead to clinical improvements in heart attack treatment.

- read the report in Cardiology Today