Natriuretic peptides are positively associated with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), but data in women, particularly with regard to improvements in risk prediction, are sparse. We measured the N-terminal prohormone form of B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in 480 cases of incident CVD (myocardial infarction, stroke, and cardiovascular death) and a reference subcohort of 564 women from the Women's Health Study who were followed for a median of 12.0 (interquartile range 7.6 to 13.4) years. Median (interquartile range) NT-proBNP concentrations were greater in women who developed CVD (81 ng/l [50 to 147]) than those who did not (64 ng/l [38 to 117]; p <0.0001). For women in the highest compared to the lowest quartile, NT-proBNP was 65% greater after adjusting for established cardiovascular risk factors and kidney function (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03 to 2.64, p trend = 0.03). When analyzed as a continuous variable, the aHR per 1 - SD difference in Ln(NT-proBNP) was 1.22 (1.03 to 1.44; p = 0.02). The per 1 - SD change in Ln(NT-proBNP) appeared stronger for cardiovascular death (aHR 1.43, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.94, p = 0.02) and stroke (aHR 1.24, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.50, p = 0.03) than myocardial infarction (aHR 1.09, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.37, p = 0.44). When added to traditional risk co-variables, NT-proBNP did not significantly improve the C-statistic (0.751 to 0.757; p = 0.09) or net reclassification into <5%, 5 to <7.5%, and ≥7.5% 10-year CVD risk categories (0.014; p = 0.18). In conclusion, in this prospective study of initially healthy women, NT-proBNP concentrations showed statistically significant association with incident CVD that was independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors but did not substantially improve measures of CVD risk prediction.
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