Brain Natriuretic Peptide Predicts Functional Outcome in Ischemic Stroke

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The study to determine whether BNP levels were associated With functional outcome after ischemic stroke was published in stroke journal November 23 2011 which showed Serum BNP levels are strongly associated with cardio embolic stroke and functional outcome at 6 months after ischemic stroke.

The study included 569 patients admitted to stroke unit between 2002 to 2005. Outcomes were measured as 6-month modified Rankin Scale score (“good outcome”_0–2 versus “poor”) as well as mortality. The study showed that an elevated BNP was associated with lower ejection fraction (P_0.0001) and left atrial dilatation (P_0.001). In multivariate analysis, elevated BNP decreased the odds of good functional outcome (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.41– 0.98) and increased the odds of death (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.36 –2.24). Addition of BNP to multivariate models increased their predictive performance for functional outcome (P_0.013) and mortality (P_0.03) after cardioembolic stroke.

The study concluded that Serum BNP levels during stroke demonstrate a reliable association with cardio embolic stroke subtype and predict functional outcome and mortality. However further studies are warranted to establish the use of serum BNP as a predictor of stroke outcome.