Responses

Download PDFPDF

Original research article
Adherence to guidelines in management of symptoms suggestive of heart failure in primary care
Free
Compose Response

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Author Information
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.
Statement of Competing Interests

PLEASE NOTE:

  • A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in a BMJ journal; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed unless it is also republished as a Letter, Correspondence or as other content. Find out more about rapid responses.
  • We intend to post all responses which are approved by the Editor, within 14 days (BMJ Journals) or 24 hours (The BMJ), however timeframes cannot be guaranteed. Responses must comply with our requirements and should contribute substantially to the topic, but it is at our absolute discretion whether we publish a response, and we reserve the right to edit or remove responses before and after publication and also republish some or all in other BMJ publications, including third party local editions in other countries and languages
  • Our requirements are stated in our rapid response terms and conditions and must be read. These include ensuring that: i) you do not include any illustrative content including tables and graphs, ii) you do not include any information that includes specifics about any patients,iii) you do not include any original data, unless it has already been published in a peer reviewed journal and you have included a reference, iv) your response is lawful, not defamatory, original and accurate, v) you declare any competing interests, vi) you understand that your name and other personal details set out in our rapid response terms and conditions will be published with any responses we publish and vii) you understand that once a response is published, we may continue to publish your response and/or edit or remove it in the future.
  • By submitting this rapid response you are agreeing to our terms and conditions for rapid responses and understand that your personal data will be processed in accordance with those terms and our privacy notice.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Vertical Tabs

Other responses

Jump to comment:

  • Published on:
    caveats to reliance on natriuretic peptide levels to trigger referral to secondary care

    An imprtant caveat to reliance on brain natriuretic peptide(BNP) levels > 100 pg/ml to trigger referral to secondary care(1) is that there exists a clinical phenotype of congestive heart failure(CHF) characterised by BNP equal to or less than 100 pg/ml(2).. In the latter study 46 out of 1159 subjects with CHF and left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) > 50%, 46 subjects were characterised by BNP equal to or less than 100 pg/ml. Heart failure symptoms such as effort dyspnoea were equally prevalent(93% vs 90%) in subject with BNP equal to or less than 100 pg/ml vs counterparts with BNP > 100 pg/ml(2). The same was true of orthopnoea(48% vs 48%) and paroxysmal nocturanal dyspnoea(28% vs 29%)(2).
    The other caveat is that constrictive pericarditis(CP), an entity characterised by symptoms such as effort dyspnoea and pedal oedema, similar to those in CHF, may be characterised by BNP as low as 50 pg/ml and 88 pg/ml, respectively, in spite of coexistence of New York Heart Association functional class III and IV symptoms(3), and natriuretic propeptide tyype B 147 pg/ml in spite of worsening dyspnoea(4). An overriding consideration is the "diagnostic value of physical examination....in primary care"(5) which includes evaluation of jugular venous pressure(JVP)(5). In the latter study elevation of JVP contributed 12 points towards a score of >54 needed to generate a >70% probability of CHF(5). In CP marked elevation of JVP is almost universal(6)....

    Show More
    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.