ArticleWorld journal for pediatric & congenital heart surgery2022
Growth Differentiation Factor 15: A Novel Growth Biomarker for Children With Congenital Heart Disease.
Article in World journal for pediatric & congenital heart surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Circulating Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15) in Paediatric Disease: A Systematic Review.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Pooled it
- Evolving Proteomic Biomarkers in Children with Congenital Heart Defects.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2026Review
- Serum Biomarkers in Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Preterm Infants: A Narrative Review.Biomedicines · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFailure to thrive (FTT), defined as weight or height less than the lowest 2.5 percentile for age, is prevalent in up to 66% of children with congenital heart disease (CHD). Risk stratification methods to identify those who would benefit from early intervention are currently lacking. We aimed to identify a novel growth biomarker to aid clinical decision-making in children with CHD.
methodsThis is a cross-sectional study of patients 2 months to 10 years of age with any CHD undergoing cardiac surgery. Preoperative weight-for-age Z scores (WAZ) and height-for-age Z scores (HAZ) were calculated and assessed for association with preoperative plasma biomarkers: growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15), fibroblast growth factor 21, leptin, prealbumin, and C-reactive protein (CRP).
resultsOf the 238 patients included, approximately 70% of patients had WAZ/HAZ < 0 and 34% had FTT. There was a moderate correlation between GDF-15 and WAZ/HAZ. When stratified by age, the correlation of GDF-15 to WAZ and HAZ was strongest in children under 2 years of age and persisted in the setting of inflammation (CRP > 0.5 mg/dL). Diagnoses commonly associated with congestive heart failure had high proportions of FTT and median GDF-15 levels. Prealbumin was not correlated with WAZ or HAZ.
conclusionsGDF-15 represents an important growth biomarker in children with CHD, especially those under 2 years of age who have diagnoses commonly associated with CHF. Our data do not support prealbumin as a long-term growth biomarker.
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