Inverse Correlation of Venous Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels with Body Mass Index Is due to Decreased Production

Objective: The aim of this paper was to study the association between body mass index (BMI) and coronary sinus (CS) brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in patients with heart failure and reduced systolic function (HFrEF). Background: There is an inverse relationship between systemic venous BNP (V-BNP) levels and BMI in patients with HFrEF. It is unclear whether this finding is due to decreased production or due to an increased metabolism of BNP. Since CS-BNP levels reflect BNP production, we hypothesized that assessing the correlation of CS-BNP levels with BMI would provide insight into the mechanism of this inverse relationship of V-BNP and BMI. Methods: We prospectively enrolled 54 subjects with HFrEF who were to undergo cardiac resynchronization device implantation. CS-BNP, V-BNP, and arterial BNP (A-BNP) levels were measured during the implant procedure. Subjects were divided into 2 groups based on their BMI (group 1: BMI