CA125 as a Marker of Heart Failure in the Older Women: Population-Based Analysis

(1) Background: Cancer antigen 125 (CA125) is a glycoprotein that is expressed by tissue derived from coelomic epithelium in the pleura, peritoneum, pericardium. It has been shown that CA125 concentrations are correlated with NT-proBNP in older with congestive heart failure (HF). We conducted a study on the association between concentrations of CA125 and NT-proBNP in a population-based cohort of older Polish women. (2) Methods: The current research is sub-study of a large, cross-sectional research project (PolSenior). The study group consisted of 1565 Caucasian women aged 65-102 years. To assess the relationship between CA125 and other variables a stepwise backward multivariate normal and skew-t regression analyses were performed. (3) Results: The median of CA125 concentration was 13.0 U/mL and values over the upper normal range limit (35 U/mL) were observed in 5.1% (n = 79) of the study cohort. The concentration of CA125 was positively related to age, hospitalization for HF and history of atrial fibrillation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, levels of NT-proBNP, IL-6, hs-CRP and triglycerides. We found, in multivariate analyses, that increased CA125 levels were independently associated with log₁₀ (IL-6) (β = 11.022), history of hospitalization for HF (β = 4.619), log₁₀ (NT-proBNP) (β = 4.416) and age (β = 3.93 for 10 years). (4) Conclusion: Despite the association between CA125 and NT-proBNP, the usefulness of CA125 for the detection of HF in older women is limited by factors such as inflammatory status and age.