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Urinary NT-proBNP as a potential noninvasive biomarker for screening of pulmonary hypertension in preterm infants: a pilot study

Journal of Perinatology volume 40, pages 628–632 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

This pilot study aimed to determine the feasibility of urinary NT-proBNP (NT-proBNP) as a potential noninvasive screening marker for pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Study design

A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Preterm infants (PI) (birthweight <1500 gm and <30 weeks gestational age (GA)) were enrolled. Serial urinary NT-proBNP measurements and echocardiograms (ECHO) were performed at 28, 32, and 36 weeks.

Results

Thirty-six patients were included in the final analysis (BPD-PH group = 6, BPD group = 20, control = 10). Urinary NT-proBNP levels were higher in the BPD-PH group compared with BPD and control groups at all study intervals. A urine NT-proBNP cutoff level of 2345 pg/ml at 28 weeks of GA had a sensitivity and specificity of 83.3% and 84.2%, respectively, for detection of BPD-PH (AUC 0.816, p = 0.022).

Conclusion

Urinary NT-proBNP measurement is feasible in preterm infants and appears to be a good noninvasive screening tool for PH.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge and thank our nursing staff at the neonatal intensive care at UTMB for their help with sample collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Critical Care, Riley Children’s Hospital, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Buria Naeem

  2. Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Adil Ayub

  3. Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Ashraf M. Aly

  4. Department of Neonatology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Michael H. Malloy & Sunil K. Jain

  5. Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Anthony O. Okorodudu

Authors
  1. Buria Naeem
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  2. Adil Ayub
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  3. Ashraf M. Aly
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  4. Michael H. Malloy
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  5. Anthony O. Okorodudu
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  6. Sunil K. Jain
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Contributions

The author BN participated in study conception, design, data collection and writing; AA participated in data analysis and writing; SKJ, AMA, MHM and AOO participated in study design and revision of the article.

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Correspondence to Buria Naeem.

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Naeem, B., Ayub, A., Aly, A.M. et al. Urinary NT-proBNP as a potential noninvasive biomarker for screening of pulmonary hypertension in preterm infants: a pilot study. J Perinatol 40, 628–632 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-019-0581-9

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