The Midregional Fragment of Pro-A–Type Natriuretic Peptide, Blood Pressure, and Mortality in a Prospective Cohort Study of Patients With Type 2 Diabetes (ZODIAC-25)

OBJECTIVE Evidence that midregional fragment of pro-A–type natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) is a marker of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes is limited. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the capabilities of MR-proANP in predicting mortality. We also investigated whether MR-proANP influences the relationship between blood pressure and mortality in old age.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In 1998, 1,143 primary care patients with type 2 diabetes participated in the ZODIAC study. Because blood was drawn for 867 patients (76%) and confounders were missing for 19 patients, the final study sample comprised 848 patients. After a follow-up time of 10 years, we used Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate the relationship between MR-proANP and (cardiovascular) mortality. Harrell C statistic was used to compare models with and without MR-proANP. The regression analyses were repeated without MR-proANP for patients aged older than 75 years.

RESULTS Median MR-proANP in the total study sample was 75 pmol/L (interquartile range, 48–124 pmol/L). During follow-up, 354 (42%) out of 848 patients had died, of whom 152 (43%) deaths were attributable to cardiovascular factors. MR-proANP was independently associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, irrespective of age. During old age, there was a significant inverse relationship between blood pressure and mortality. This relationship did not change after adjustment for MR-proANP.

CONCLUSIONS MR-proANP is independently associated with mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. MR-proANP did not influence the inverse relationship between blood pressure and mortality in elderly patients.