Oct. 4, 2011 -- At the
Heart Failure Society of America's 15th Annual Scientific Meeting, Alan Maisel, M.D., VA San Diego Healthcare System, announced that B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) may have utility in monitoring heart failure patients for early warning signs of decompensation in advance of acute presentations.
HABIT, a multi-center study led by Maisel and sponsored by
Alere Inc., is the first of its kind to have heart failure patients measure their BNP levels from home every day. 187 subjects were enrolled in the study following hospital discharge for a heart-failure-related event, and BNP levels were measured daily for 60 days using a fingerstick test run on the Alere™ Heart Check System. The results of the study demonstrate that BNP levels fluctuate rapidly and frequently in heart failure patients. They also provide insight into new strategies for monitoring these fluctuations, which in turn might lead to the early identification of problems in these patients.
"The results of the HABIT study provide an important advancement in our knowledge about B-type natriuretic peptide in heart failure," said Maisel. "For the first time, we have seen that, in a population of patients discharged with heart failure, natriuretic peptides can rapidly and significantly change from day to day over the course of weeks, illustrating that frequent measurement could be useful in the accurate assessment of heart failure patient status."
BNP is secreted by the heart's ventricles in response to changes in pressure that occur when heart failure develops or worsens. As the symptoms of heart failure become more severe, the level of BNP in the blood increases. For this reason, routine monitoring of BNP levels in outpatient and home settings may be a viable tool for identifying decompensation events earlier and managing them more effectively.
The results of HABIT appear to support this conclusion. "The routine availability of BNP values in established heart failure patients could provide us with the first direct and objective indicator of the heart's response to change in a patient's condition," stated Maisel. "BNP could become an important monitoring tool for use in the homes of patients to manage the disease remotely, thereby identifying decompensation earlier to reduce healthcare costs and downstream re-hospitalizations."...
[PDF] Alere's Press Release -
