C-reactive protein/albumin ratio and urine protein/creatinine ratio
predict poor outcomes in patients with heart failure with preserved
ejection fraction
Abstract
Aim: To evaluate the prognostic utility of C-reactive
protein-albumin ratio (CAR) and urine protein-creatinine ratio (UACR) in
patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
Patients & methods: This study is a retrospective analysis.
Patients diagnosed with HFpEF at the Jiangmen Central Hospital from
January 2017 to January 2020 were included. HFpEF patients were
stratified into two groups based on the occurrence of major adverse
cardiac events (MACE). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves
were then constructed and Cox regression models were employed to gauge
the prognostic relevance of CAR and UACR for HFpEF patients.
Kaplan-Meier analysis evaluated the survival and MACE-free rate in
patients with different level of CAR and UACR. Results: A total
of 312 patients with HFpEF were enrolled in this study and followed up
for 25.18±7.54 months. Among them, 109 MACE (34.94%), 59 all-cause
mortality (18.91%). The age, level of C reactive protein (CRP), albumin
(ALB), creatinine (Cr) , B-type pro-brain natriuretic peptide
(NT-ProBNP) , CAR and UACR were statistically different between the MACE
group and Non-MACE group ( P<0.05). Multivariate
analysis showed that CAR and UACR were independent predictors of
all-cause mortality and MACE in HFpEF patients. ROC showed that the AUC
of the combination predicting the occurrence of all-cause mortality and
MACE are 0.837 and 0.929 respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that
the survival rate of group 1 (CAR≦0.16 and UACR≦29.15mg/g) was
significantly higher than that of group 2 (CAR>0.16 or
UACR>29.15mg/g) and group 3 (CAR>0.16 and
UACR>29.15mg/g) (98.57% vs. 74.77 vs. 53.85%,
P=0.000) and MACE-free survival rate of group 1 (CAR≦0.16 and
UACR≦31.05mg/g) was significantly higher than that of group 2 (
CAR>0.16 or UACR>31.05mg/g) and group 3
(CAR>0.16 and UACR>31.05mg/g) (94.37% vs.
48.35 vs. 13.11%, P=0.000). Conclusion: We determined
that increased CAR and UACR was independently associated with poor
outcomes in HFpEF patients. Combined evaluation of CAR and UACR yielded
a more accurate predictive model of HFpEF patient outcomes relative to
the use of either of these metrics in isolation. Our research can
provide a theoretical basis in the occurrence of MACE for the high-risk
HFpEF patients and intervene them properly and timely.