Serum Soluble ST2 Is a Valuable Prognostic Biomarker in Patients With Acute Heart Failure

This study aimed to investigate the clinical utility of different soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2) levels in assessing the severity and prognosis of patients with acute heart failure (AHF).

This was a prospective cohort study. Three hundred and thirty-one consecutively enrolled AHF patients from March 2018 to November 2019 were divided into 3 subgroups according to sST2 levels: T1 (1.15-7.70 ng/ml; N = 110), T2 (7.71-17.24 ng/ml; N = 111), and T3 (17.26-47.42 ng/ml; N = 110). The patients were followed up for a median period of 21.0 months for the development of the primary endpoint. Cox proportional hazards model was performed to evaluate the prognostic value of sST2 for the clinical outcomes.

The mean age of patients was 69 years (range, 34-93 years), and 70.4% were male. During the follow-up period, 63 participants died. Patients with higher sST2 levels had lower left ventricular ejection fraction (correlation = -0.119, P = 0.031), and higher New York Heart Association classification (correlation = 0.443, P < 0.001) and N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels (correlation = 0.392, P < 0.001). Higher sST2 was also associated with creatinine, urea nitrogen, hemoglobin, and left ventricular mass index. Multivariate analysis revealed that sST2 (per log unit, hazard ratio: 2.174, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.012-4.67, P = 0.047) and NT-proBNP (per log unit, HR 2.171, 95%CI 1.169-4.032, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for the primary outcome in all patients with AHF.

sST2 can provide prognostic information in AHF. The higher the sST2 level in patients with AHF, the higher the incidence of cardiovascular death.