Serum heart-type fatty acid binding protein predicts cardiac events in elderly patients with chronic heart failure

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) is released into the circulation from the damaged myocardium of patients with severe chronic heart failure. Chronic heart failure is the most frequent cause of death and disability in the elderly. However, there are no data for the prognostic value of H-FABP in the elderly population. This study investigated whether H-FABP can effectively predict the prognosis in elderly patients (> or = 70 years) with chronic heart failure. METHODS: Serum H-FABP levels were measured in 90 chronic heart failure patients > or =70 years old (mean age 77 +/- 4 years, range 70-92 years), and patients were followed-up for 421 +/- 326 days. RESULTS: There were 35 cardiac events (38.9%) including cardiac deaths and readmissions for worsening chronic heart failure. Multivariate analysis with the Cox proportional hazard model showed that H-FABP was the only independent predictor of cardiac events (chi2 = 6.640, p = 0.0100). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that H-FABP effectively risk stratified elderly patients with chronic heart failure for cardiac events. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that H-FABP is a reliable marker for prognosis in elderly patients with chronic heart failure.