Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Clinical Science, Lund University Hospital, S-22185 Lund, Sweden.
Clin Biochem. 2010 Nov;43(16-17):1282-6. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2010.08.011. Epub 2010 Aug 17.
Serum N-terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is regarded as a marker of vascular disease and has previously been shown to exhibit an increased frequency of pathological values in elderly patients with mental illness with vascular disease compared to patients without vascular disease. Vascular disease plays an important role in cognitive impairment in elderly patients with mental illness.
We have investigated the relation between NT-proBNP, vascular disease and cognition in consecutively enrolled elderly patients with mental illness.
NT-proBNP level is increased in patients with vascular disease compared to patients without vascular disease, and a logistic regression analysis showed that NT-proBNP was a significant predictor of vascular disease. However, NT-proBNP level did not predict cognition as assessed by MMSE score. NT-proBNP level also showed a highly significant relation to mortality in all patients.
Determinations of NT-proBNP could be used in elderly patients with mental illness to detect patients in need of control and treatment of vascular risk factors. The levels of NT-proBNP may also provide prognostic information.
血清 N 末端脑利钠肽前体（NT-proBNP）被认为是血管疾病的标志物，先前的研究表明，与无血管疾病的患者相比，患有血管疾病的老年精神病患者的 NT-proBNP 异常值频率更高。血管疾病在老年精神病患者的认知障碍中起着重要作用。
我们调查了连续入组的老年精神病患者的 NT-proBNP、血管疾病和认知之间的关系。
与无血管疾病的患者相比，血管疾病患者的 NT-proBNP 水平升高，逻辑回归分析表明 NT-proBNP 是血管疾病的一个显著预测因子。然而，NT-proBNP 水平并不能预测简易精神状态检查（MMSE）评分评估的认知。NT-proBNP 水平与所有患者的死亡率也有高度显著的关系。
在老年精神病患者中，NT-proBNP 的测定可用于检测需要控制和治疗血管危险因素的患者。NT-proBNP 水平也可能提供预后信息。
