[Value of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in evaluating early septic cardiac dysfunction in neonates]

Objective: To investigate the significance of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in the early assessment of neonatal cardiac dysfunction in sepsis.

Methods: The children diagnosed with neonatal sepsis and common infection neonates admitted to the department of pediatric neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Liaocheng People's Hospital from January 2016 to January 2019 were enrolled. Data of clinical sign, laboratory results, bedside echocardiography and survival data were collected, and the differences of clinical indexes were compared among sepsis patients with and without cardiac dysfunction and common infection. The risk factors of sepsis with cardiac dysfunction were analyzed by multivariate Logistic regression, and the early prediction value of NT-proBNP for neonatal septic cardiac dysfunction was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

Results: There were 112 neonates with sepsis (49 with cardiac dysfunction and 63 without cardiac dysfunction) and 67 children with common infection included in the analysis. The onset time of neonates in septic cardiac dysfunction group was significantly earlier than that of septic non-cardiac dysfunction group and common infection group [hours: 52.9 (0, 180.3) vs. 53.9 (0, 183.6), 81.0 (45.6, 202.4), both P < 0.05]. Compared with the general infection group, albumin (ALB), white blood cell count (WBC), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in septic cardiac dysfunction group significantly decreased, NT-proBNP, hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP)/ALB, pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) significantly increased, while right ventricular (RV) and Tei index significantly increased [ALB (g/L): 24.1±3.8 vs. 27.8±3.6, WBC (×10⁹/L): 12.7 (3.7, 18.9) vs. 15.4 (9.9, 23.2), LVEF: 0.626±0.123 vs. 0.700±0.021, NT-proBNP (ng/L): 20 230.6 (15 890.0, 35 000.0) vs. 7 324.5 (2 426.5, 13 890.0), hs-CRP/ALB: 0.33 (0.29, 0.81) vs. 0.06 (0.00, 0.21), PASP (mmHg, 1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa): 52.25±14.12 vs. 41.07±27.73, RV (mm): 10.74±2.42 vs. 8.55±1.41, Tei index: 0.52±0.03 vs. 0.30±0.04, all P < 0.05]. NT-proBNP and Tei index in septic cardiac dysfunction group were significantly higher than those in septic non-cardiac dysfunction group [NT-proBNP (ng/L): 20 230.6 (15 890.0, 35 000.0) vs. 13 057.6 (8 946.0, 35 000.0), Tei index: 0.52±0.03 vs. 0.39±0.02, both P < 0.05], and LVEF was significantly lower than that in septic non-cardiac dysfunction group (0.626±0.123 vs. 0.671±0.086, P < 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that NT-proBNP, Tei index and hs-CRP/ALB were independent risk factors for cardiac dysfunction in sepsis neonates [odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were 8.73 (1.54-5.67), 1.97 (1.26-2.87), 1.87 (1.03-3.40) respectively, all P < 0.05]. ROC curve analysis showed that NT-proBNP, Tei index and hs-CRP/ALB had good predictive value for the occurrence of cardiac dysfunction in septic neonates, the area under ROC curve (AUC) was 0.81 (95%CI was 0.84-0.91), 0.78 (95%CI was 0.65-0.79) and 0.77 (95%CI was 0.61-0.77), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of NT-proBNP were 80.0% and 79.0% respectively with 12 291.5 ng/L as the cut-off value, the sensitivity and specificity of Tei index were 74.0% and 77.0% respectively with 0.45 as the cut-off value, and the sensitivity and specificity of hs-CRP/ALB were 76.0% and 76.3% respectively with 0.10 as the cut-off value.

Conclusions: NT-proBNP can be used as a diagnostic marker of early cardiac dysfunction, and for rapid diagnosis of neonatal cardiac dysfunction in sepsis. The application may guide clinicians to use drugs better to improve cardiac function and treatment effect.