Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Relationship between blood urea nitrogen-to-creatinine ratio at hospital admission and long-term mortality in patients with acute decompensated heart failure

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Heart and Vessels Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN)-to-creatinine (BUN/Cr) ratio at hospital admission has been reported to be associated with poor short-term prognosis, its association to long-term mortality in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) remains to be elucidated. Moreover, an additive prognostic value to preexisting renal markers including creatinine and BUN has not been well described. A cohort of 557 consecutive ADHF patients admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit was studied. All cohorts were divided into high and low BUN/Cr ratios according to the median value of BUN/Cr ratio at admission. Association between admission BUN/Cr ratio and long-term all-cause mortality was assessed. There were 145 deaths (27%) observed during the follow-up period of 1.9 years in median. Patients with high BUN/Cr ratio showed with higher mortality compared to low BUN/Cr ratio (log-rank: P = 0.006). In the multivariable analysis, patients with high BUN/Cr ratio at admission were associated with high mortality independently from other covariates including BUN and creatinine (HR 1.81, 95% CI 1.16–2.80, P = 0.009). In patients with ADHF, there is a relationship between admission BUN-to-creatinine ratio and long-term mortality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hunt SA, Abraham WT, Chin MH, Feldman AM, Francis GS, Ganiats TG, Jessup M, Konstam MA, Mancini DM, Michl K, Oates JA, Rahko PS, Silver MA, Stevenson LW, Yancy CW, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association (2009) 2009 Focused update incorporated into the ACC/AHA 2005 Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Heart Failure in Adults A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines Developed in Collaboration With the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. J Am Coll Cardiol 53:e1–e90

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Gheorghiade M, De Luca L, Fonarow GC, Filippatos G, Metra M, Francis GS (2005) Pathophysiologic targets in the early phase of acute heart failure syndromes. Am J Cardiol 96:11G–17G

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Scrutinio D, Ammirati E, Passantino A, Guida P, D’Angelo L, Oliva F, Ciccone MM, Iacoviello M, Dentamaro I, Santoro D, Lagioia R, Sarzi Braga S, Guzzetti D, Frigerio M (2015) Predicting short-term mortality in advanced decompensated heart failure—role of the updated acute decompensated heart failure/N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic Peptide risk score. Circ J 79:1076–1083

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Kazory A (2010) Emergence of blood urea nitrogen as a biomarker of neurohormonal activation in heart failure. Am J Cardiol 106:694–700

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Metra M, Nodari S, Parrinello G, Bordonali T, Bugatti S, Danesi R, Fontanella B, Lombardi C, Milani P, Verzura G, Cotter G, Dittrich H, Massie BM, Dei Cas L (2008) Worsening renal function in patients hospitalised for acute heart failure: clinical implications and prognostic significance. Eur J Heart Fail 10:188–195

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Forman DE, Butler J, Wang Y, Abraham WT, O’Connor CM, Gottlieb SS, Loh E, Massie BM, Rich MW, Stevenson LW, Young JB, Krumholz HM (2004) Incidence, predictors at admission, and impact of worsening renal function among patients hospitalized with heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol 43:61–67

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Chittineni H, Miyawaki N, Gulipelli S, Fishbane S (2007) Risk for acute renal failure in patients hospitalized for decompensated congestive heart failure. Am J Nephrol 27:55–62

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Damman K, Navis G, Voors AA, Asselbergs FW, Smilde TD, Cleland JG, van Veldhuisen DJ, Hillege HL (2007) Worsening renal function and prognosis in heart failure: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Card Fail 13:599–608

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Breidthardt T, Socrates T, Noveanu M, Klima T, Heinisch C, Reichlin T, Potocki M, Nowak A, Tschung C, Arenja N, Bingisser R, Mueller C (2011) Effect and clinical prediction of worsening renal function in acute decompensated heart failure. Am J Cardiol 107:730–735

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Weinfeld MS, Chertow GM, Stevenson LW (1999) Aggravated renal dysfunction during intensive therapy for advanced chronic heart failure. Am Heart J 138:285–290

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Shirakabe A, Hata N, Kobayashi N, Shinada T, Tomita K, Tsurumi M, Matsushita M, Okazaki H, Yamamoto Y, Yokoyama S, Asai K, Mizuno K (2013) Prognostic impact of acute kidney injury in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. Circ J 77:687–696

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Brisco MA, Coca SG, Chen J, Owens AT, McCauley BD, Kimmel SE, Testani JM (2013) Blood urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio identifies a high-risk but potentially reversible form of renal dysfunction in patients with decompensated heart failure. Circ Heart Fail 6:233–239

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Aronson D, Mittleman MA, Burger AJ (2004) Elevated blood urea nitrogen level as a predictor of mortality in patients admitted for decompensated heart failure. Am J Med 116:466–473

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lin HJ, Chao CL, Chien KL, Ho YL, Lee CM, Lin YH, Wu YW, Hsu RB, Chou NK, Wang SS, Chen CY, Chen MF (2009) Elevated blood urea nitrogen-to-creatinine ratio increased the risk of hospitalization and all-cause death in patients with chronic heart failure. Clin Res Cardiol 98:487–492

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Giamouzis G, Kalogeropoulos AP, Georgiopoulou VV, Agha SA, Rashad MA, Laskar SR, Smith AL, Butler J (2009) Incremental value of renal function in risk prediction with the Seattle Heart Failure Model. Am Heart J 157:299–305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Gotsman I, Zwas D, Planer D, Admon D, Lotan C, Keren A (2010) The significance of serum urea and renal function in patients with heart failure. Medicine (Baltimore) 89:197–203

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Testani JM, Coca SG, Shannon RP, Kimmel SE, Cappola TP (2011) Influence of renal dysfunction phenotype on mortality in the setting of cardiac dysfunction: analysis of three randomized controlled trials. Eur J Heart Fail 13:1224–1230

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Takaya Y, Yoshihara F, Yokoyama H, Kanzaki H, Kitakaze M, Goto Y, Anzai T, Yasuda S, Ogawa H, Kawano Y (2015) Risk stratification of acute kidney injury using the blood urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. Circ J 79:1520–1525

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. McKee PA, Castelli WP, McNamara PM, Kannel WB (1971) The natural history of congestive heart failure: the Framingham Study. N Engl J Med 285:1441–1446

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Matsuo S, Imai E, Horio M, Yasuda Y, Tomita K, Nitta K, Yamagata K, Tomino Y, Yokoyama H, Hishida A, Collaborators developing the Japanese equation for estimated GFR (2009) Revised equations for estimated GFR from serum creatinine in Japan. Am J Kidney Dis 53:982–992

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Lindenfeld J, Schrier RW (2011) Blood urea nitrogen a marker for adverse effects of loop diuretics? J Am Coll Cardiol 58:383–385

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Schrier RW (2008) Blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine: not married in heart failure. Circ Heart Fail 1:2–5

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Matsue Y, van der Meer P, Damman K, Metra M, O’Connor CM, Ponikowski P, Teerlink JR, Cotter G, Davison B, Cleland JG, Givertz MM, Bloomfield DM, Dittrich HC, Gansevoort RT, Bakker SJ, van der Harst P, Hillege HL, van Veldhuisen DJ, Voors AA (2017) Blood urea nitrogen-to-creatinine ratio in the general population and in patients with acute heart failure. Heart 103:407–413

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Jujo K, Saito K, Ishida I, Furuki Y, Kim A, Suzuki Y, Sekiguchi H, Yamaguchi J, Ogawa H, Hagiwara N (2016) Randomized pilot trial comparing tolvaptan with furosemide on renal and neurohumoral effects in acute heart failure. ESC Heart Fail 3:177–188

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Matsue Y, Suzuki M, Torii S, Yamaguchi S, Fukamizu S, Ono Y, Fujii H, Kitai T, Nishioka T, Sugi K, Onishi Y, Noda M, Kagiyama N, Satoh Y, Yoshida K, Goldsmith SR (2016) Prognostic impact of early treatment with tolvaptan in patients with acute heart failure and renal dysfunction. Int J Cardiol 221:188–193

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study is partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) [Grant Number 26507010], and a grant to the Respiratory Failure Research Group from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan. These funding sources do not have any other roles in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takatoshi Kasai.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Dr. Takatoshi Kasai has received unrestricted research funding from Philips Respironics, Fukuda Denshi, ResMed, and Teijin Home Healthcare. Dr. Yuya Matsue is supported by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad, and received a honorarium from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Dr. Hiroyuki Daida received research grant from various pharmaceutical companies and payment for lectures including service in speakers’ bureaus from Medtronic Japan, AstraZeneca K.K., MSD K.K., Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Glaxosmithkline K.K., Shionogi and Co. Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Company, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co. Ltd, Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd, Terumo Corporation, Astellas Pharma Inc. The other authors report no conflicts of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Murata, A., Kasai, T., Matsue, Y. et al. Relationship between blood urea nitrogen-to-creatinine ratio at hospital admission and long-term mortality in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. Heart Vessels 33, 877–885 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00380-018-1135-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00380-018-1135-3

Keywords

Navigation