Associations between muscle quality and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP): The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis

N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is widely used in clinical settings to identify cardiac stress, diagnose, and manage heart failure (HF). We explored the associations between NT-proBNP and both muscle area and density. A cross-sectional analysis including 1,489 participants from the MESA. Plasma NT-proBNP concentrations and inflammatory biomarkers and health history questionnaires were analyzed. Computed tomography quantified abdominal body composition. Separate multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the associations between both muscle (MA) area and density (MD) and NT-proBNP. In models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, anthropometric variables, and subcutaneous and visceral adiposity, NT-proBNP was inversely associated with total abdominal and psoas MAs. Adjustment for inflammatory markers and MD attenuated these associations to the null. Stabilization MA and NT-proBNP were not significantly associated. Analyses per quartiles of MA confirmed lack of a consistent association between stabilization and total abdominal MAs and NT-proBNP. While the third and fourth quartiles of psoas MA were inversely associated with NT-proBNP, adding inflammation biomarkers and MD to the model attenuated the association to the null. Conversely, after full adjustment, NT-proBNP was inversely and significantly associated with total abdominal, stabilization and psoas MDs. For psoas MD, but not the other muscle density variables, the addition of MA to the model attenuated the association to the null. The quartiles of MD were consistently inversely associated with NT-proBNP, where higher MDs showed larger estimates of the association compared to the lowest quartiles, for all muscle groups investigated. Muscle density is inversely associated with NT-proBNP, while muscle area is not after adjustment for inflammation and muscle density.