What issues were identified in the studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of NT-proBNP and/or BNP?
Common issues in the studies included risk of bias due to unclear participant selection methods, high (or not reported) loss to follow up, extended length of time between BNP test and echo, and poor reporting of accuracy results. Additionally, some studies were downgraded for indirectness of the population, where the prevalence of heart failure was much higher than would be expected in the target population indicating the populations may have been from different settings with a potential variation in the distribution of symptoms and severity.