Recently, Priyanka Bajpai from BioSpectrum Asia spoke to Dr Antoni Bayes-Genis on the need to staying healthy and the future of NT-proBNP as a cardiac biomarker.
Southeast Asia is home to 9 million heart failure patients. In Singapore alone, it accounts for around 6,000 hospitalizations. Worryingly, not only is heart failure prevalence on the rise (the number of patients is expected to increase by 46% by 2030), but costs of heart failure care are expected to double.
Because the condition is often undertreated, 1 in 4 patients are readmitted one month after discharge. There is therefore an urgent need to raise awareness among the medical community about accurate monitoring of the condition.
NT-proBNP is a cardiac biomarker that accurately monitors heart failure. It is now a Class 1A recommendation for prognosis of heart failure and is increasingly being incorporated into routine practice. In heart failure therapy, NT-proBNP provides stronger prognostic information of the unfavorable outcomes than the traditional indicators. In fact, NT-proBNP is critical to monitoring the effectiveness of new pioneering drug (ARNi), which decreases mortality rates by 30% - the first major development in heart failure treatment in years.
Professor Bayes Genis is currently the Chairman at the Heart Institute, ‘Germans Trias i Pujol’ University Hospital in Barcelona. He is also the Director of the Heart Failure and Cardiac Regeneration Research (ICREC) Program, and a Professor of Medicine at Autonomous University in Barcelona, Spain. In addition, he is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and an ICON investigator. Recently, Priyanka Bajpai from BioSpectrum Asia spoke to Dr Antoni Bayes-Genis on the need to staying healthy and the future of NT-proBNP as a cardiac biomarker-
Q1. Southeast Asia is home to 9 million heart failure patients, Singapore alone accounting to 6,000 hospitalisations. Still on an average, people are not worried about being heart healthy unless alarmed with symptoms. What are your views on this?
It is true that most heart problems are the result of classic risk factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, diabetes and obesity. However, those who lead healthier lives can also suffer from heart problems, which many people aren’t aware of.
This is an issue among women and younger people, who typically do not see heart problems as a condition that will affect them.
Additionally, many people are not aware of all the symptoms of heart failure in the same way that they may know about other life-threatening illnesses to look out for. The difficulty is that heart failure symptoms are non-specific and can include common ailments such as nausea, fatigue and reduced appetite.
In fact, at early stages, heart failure patients do not present any symptoms. Around 50% of heart failure patients can be misdiagnosed based on symptoms alone. Misdiagnosis can result in incorrect treatment which impacts patient outcomes and creates additional pressure on the healthcare system.
To help prevent and manage heart failure I would recommend, particularly for those with a family history of coronary problems, eating a healthy diet, staying physically active, avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol and watching out for changes to your body.
Q2. In your professional career, have you seen any changes in the demographics of heart failure victims?
Over the past few decades we have witnessed an increased number of women and under 55s admitted with heart failure.
Heart failure still increases dramatically with age, rising from 3 to 10% among individuals over 70 years old. But heart failure continues to remain undertreated. One in four patients is readmitted one month after discharge.
In the coming decades, the global burden of heart failure is predicted to increase due to both the fast-ageing population and the increased prevalence of risk factors such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes and hyperlipoproteinemia. Half of the world’s cardiovascular burden is predicted to occur in the Asia Pacific region.
Q3. During your career, what piqued your early interest in cardiac biomarkers?
For years and even decades, the heart has ...
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