What is the diagnostic test accuracy of plasma BNP for diagnosing chronic heart failure?
Five studies explored the diagnostic test accuracy of plasma BNP for diagnosing chronic heart failure. The quality of the included evidence ranged from high to very low. Two high quality studies (n=206 and n=122) reported a high sensitivity of plasma BNP at the thresholds 30pg/ml and 77pg/ml (95 (89-98) and 97 (83-100) respectively) which met the pre specified threshold of 95% set by the committee for possible recommendation. A further single study (n=200) reported a high specificity of 100 (97-100) at the threshold 400pg/ml.