Objective: To determine if B-natriuretic peptide (BNP), handheld ultrasound, and echo interpretation was an accurate and reliable screening for stage B heart failure.
Methods: One hundred and forty-five indigent diabetic patients were prospectively enrolled, and their BNP levels were measured. Each patient underwent a handheld echo.
Results: BNP was correlated with ejection fraction, but not with diastolic dysfunction. The area under the receiver-operator characteristic was 0.77. Kappa statistics for reliability in interpreting handheld echoes was 1.0.
Conclusions: Results from this study suggested that BNP may be able to serve as a reliable screening tool for stage B heart failure in diabetic populations. Because BNP is an inexpensive blood test, it could be incorporated into the congestive heart failure diagnostic algorithm to determine which patients need imaging studies, namely echocardiography. Handheld echocardiography had interobserver reliability and is a promising alternative screening method.