Factors Affecting Biochemical and Echocardiographic Indices in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients Without Overt Symptoms of Heart Failure: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction Diabetes is a known risk factor for heart failure (HF), and HF often manifests as a common cardiovascular event in people with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Once HF is present, diabetes presents an especially adverse prognosis for subsequent morbidity and mortality. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and n-terminal ProBNP (NT-proBNP) are used as diagnostic biomarkers for HF that are secreted by the ventricles in response to increased myocardial wall stress. If we could unmask some clinical and routine laboratory parameters affecting BNP and ejection fraction (EF), we can predict impending HF and take measures to prevent it. The current study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting BNP and EF for detecting potential HF in T2DM patients who do not exhibit overt HF symptoms. Materials and methods The present cross-sectional study was performed after obtaining ethical clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee. T2DM patients consulting the Medicine Outpatient Department (OPD) of BRD Medical College Gorakhpur during a two-month period (from 20 July 2023 to 19 September 2023) with age >40 years and duration of T2DM >10 years. Multistage random sampling was done to recruit study participants, and 308 patients participated in the study. Informed consent was obtained from the recruited participants. The chi-square or Fisher's exact test (whichever was applicable) was used to explore the association between categorical variables. Correlation statistics were calculated using Spearman correlation among the NT-proBNP, EF, and other relevant variables. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 21; IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Armonk, NY) was used for the analysis, and a two-sided p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Three hundred and eight diabetic patients satisfying inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled as study participants and completed the study. The mean age of the total study subjects was 60.82 ± 9.23 years. There were 161 (52.3%) male and 147 (47.7%) female participants, and about half (153/308, 49.7%) of the participants belonged to the age group 40-60 years. There was a statistically significant association (p = 0.01) between NT-proBNP and glycated hemoglobin. Statistically highly significant (p < 0.001) associations were found between NT-proBNP with duration of T2DM and EF. There was a strong negative correlation (correlation coefficient = -0.743) between EF and NT-proBNP, and this correlation was statistically highly significant with a p-value < 0.001. Conclusion Elevated NT-proBNP levels and impaired EF were found in a significant proportion of these patients, indicating an increased risk of cardiovascular complications. This study highlights a significant association between NT-proBNP and EF in patients with T2DM in those without overt heart failure symptoms. Furthermore, longer T2DM duration and higher HbA1c levels were found to be associated with elevated NT-proBNP levels, while longer T2DM duration and elevated NT-proBNP were linked to lower EF. These findings have important clinical implications, as they suggest that monitoring NT-proBNP levels in patients with T2DM without clinical features of overt heart failure may help identify those at risk for decreased EF and potentially prevent heart failure.