What should healthcare professionals be aware of when diagnosing heart failure in patients with low NT-proBNP results?
Healthcare professionals should be aware that even in people with low NT-proBNP results, heart failure cannot definitively be ruled out. Additionally, NT-proBNP levels are lower in populations of West African/Afro-Caribbean descent and also in patients with morbid obesity, so alternative causes for their symptoms should be reviewed, and if there is still concern that symptoms may be due to heart failure, this should be discussed with a heart failure specialist.