Background: B-natriuretic peptide (BNP), a neurohormone secreted from the cardiac ventricles, reflects left ventricular pressure and correlates to disease severity and prognosis. The fact that BNP levels can now be measured by a rapid assay suggests its potential usefulness in the outpatient clinic. However, if patient activity were to markedly alter BNP levels, its use would be less attractive for monitoring patients in the outpatient clinical setting.
Methods: A total of 30 patients (10 normal, 10 New York Heart Association [NYHA] class I-II, 10 NYHA class III-IV) exercised with an upright bicycle protocol. Exercise was carried out to 75% of maximum heart rate, and venous blood was sampled before, immediately after, and 1 hour after completion of exercise. Plasma levels of BNP, epinephrine, and norepinephrine were measured.
Results: BNP levels at baseline were 29 +/- 11 pg/mL for normal subjects, 126 +/- 26 pg/mL for NYHA I-II subjects, and 1712 +/- 356 pg/mL for NYHA III-IV subjects. The change in BNP levels with exercise was significantly lower than the change in epinephrine and norepinephrine (P <.001). In normal subjects, BNP increased from 29 pg/mL to 44 pg/mL with peak exercise, still within the range of normal (<100 pg/mL). This is compared with larger increases of norepinephrine (716 pg/mL to 1278 pg/mL) and epinephrine (52 pg/mL to 86 pg/mL) with exercise in normal subjects. There were also only small increases in BNP with exercise in patients with congestive heart failure (NYHA I-II, 30%; NYHA III-IV, 18%). For the same groups, epinephrine levels increased by 218% and 312%, respectively, and norepinephrine levels increased by 232% and 163%, respectively. One hour after completion of exercise, there were only minimal changes in BNP levels from baseline state in normal subjects (+0.9%) and patients with NYHA I-II (3.8%). In patients with NYHA III-IV, there was a 15% increase from baseline 1 hour after exercise.
Conclusions: BNP levels show only minor changes with vigorous exercise, making it unlikely that a normal patient would be classified as having congestive heart failure based on a BNP level obtained after activity. Prior activity should not influence BNP levels in patients with congestive heart failure. Therefore, when a patient presents to clinic with a marked change in their BNP level, it may reflect a real change in their condition.