Distribution of circulating cardiac biomarkers in healthy children: from birth through adulthood.

AIM

While circulating biomarkers are critical tools for cardiovascular adult care, their relevance in childhood is unknown.

METHODS

We evaluated the behavior of plasma concentrations of clinically relevant cardiac biomarkers (NT-proBNP, hs-cTnI, sST2, Galectin-3) in 106 healthy children.

RESULTS

Subjects were divided into age subgroups: 24 newborns (0-30 days), 26 infants (1-12 months), 30 children (1-12 years) and 26 adolescents (13-18 years). Healthy adults were used as control. NT-proBNP (newborns: 504.3 [211.07-942.7] ng/L, median [25-75 percentiles]; infants: 200.64 [76.88-306.73]; children: 97.27 [49.24-271.80]; adolescents: 24.35 [13.14-58.83]; p < 0.001) and hs-cTnI (newborns: 9.3 [3.3-93.8] ng/L; infants: 13.8 [4.82-72.52]; children: 11.45 [4.0-48.10]; adolescents: 2.6[2.07-3.90]; p < 0.001) were highest in the first month of life, showing a decline in the next years. sST2 and Galectin-3 showed no differences.

CONCLUSION

Changes in hs-cTnI and NT-proBNP suggest the design of age- and sex-based reference intervals that will have to be explored in a larger population.