Cystatin C levels are associated with the prognosis of systolic heart failure patients

SummaryBackgroundCystatin C, which has long been regarded as a biomarker that indicates kidney functions, has recently been recognized as an inflammatory marker in the human body.AimTo elucidate how cystatin C is related to the prognosis of systolic heart failure patients.MethodsPatients with systolic heart failure who were admitted to the fourth affiliated hospital of Harbin Medical University between January and April 2008 were enrolled in this study. Serum homocysteine, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and cystatin C levels were determined and all the patients received an average of 2years of follow-up for occurrence of death, heart transplantation or readmission with worsening heart failure.ResultsOf 138 patients enrolled, those who experienced adverse outcomes (e.g. cardiac death, heart transplantation or progressive heart failure) (n=21) had considerably higher mean levels of serum homocysteine (28.6±13.4 vs 14.4±6.3mg/L; P<0.01), hs-CRP (17.5±14.1 vs 6.4±7.7μmol/L; p<0.01) and cystatin C (1.63±0.81 vs 0.91±0.27mg/L; P