• Hans-Gerhard Schneider, Louisa Lam, Amaali Lokuge, Henry Krum, Matthew T Naughton, Pieter De Villiers Smit, Adam Bystrzycki, David Eccleston, Jacob Federman, Genevieve Flannery, and Peter Cameron.
• Alfred Health, Prahran, and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. schneiderh@alfred.org.au
• Ann. Intern. Med. 2009 Mar 17;150(6):365-71.

BackgroundB-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is used to diagnose heart failure, but the effects of using the test on all dyspneic patients is uncertain.ObjectiveTo assess whether BNP testing alters clinical outcomes and health services use of acutely dyspneic patients.DesignRandomized, single-blind study. Patients were assigned to a treatment group through randomized numbers in a sealed envelope. Patients were blinded to the intervention, but clinicians and those who assessed trial outcomes were not.Setting2 Australian teaching hospital emergency departments.Patients612 consecutive patients who presented with acute severe dyspnea from August 2005 to March 2007.InterventionBNP testing (n = 306) or no testing (n = 306).MeasurementsAdmission rates, length of stay, and emergency department medications (primary outcomes); mortality and readmission rates (secondary outcomes).ResultsThere were no between-group differences in hospital admission rates (85.6% [BNP group] vs. 86.6% [control group]; difference, -1.0 percentage point [95% CI, -6.5 to 4.5 percentage points]; P = 0.73), length of admission (median, 4.4 days [interquartile range, 2 to 9 days] vs. 5.0 days [interquartile range, 2 to 9 days]; P = 0.94), or management of patients in the emergency department. Test discrimination was good (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, 0.87 [CI, 0.83 to 0.91]). Adverse events were not measured.LimitationMost patients were very short of breath and required hospitalization; the findings might not apply for evaluating patients with milder degrees of breathlessness.ConclusionMeasurement of BNP in all emergency department patients with severe shortness of breath had no apparent effects on clinical outcomes or use of health services. The findings do not support routine use of BNP testing in all severely dyspneic patients in the emergency department.Primary Funding SourceJanssen-Cilag.

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