Objective: To explore the correlation of the growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) with the severity of chronic heart failure (CHF) in patients with coronary atherosclerosis.
Patients and methods: 300 coronary atherosclerosis patients with CHF treated in our hospital from January 2019 to December 2019 and 300 healthy people (control group) were collected and retrospectively analyzed. The basic clinical information of the patients, such as age, gender, smoking/drinking history, waist-hip ratio, BMI and blood lipid were collected, and GDF-15, cystatin C and c-reactive protein (CRP) were determined. The severity of heart failure was classified.
Results: No significant differences in clinical information were found such as age, gender, smoking/drinking history, waist-to-hip ratio, BMI and blood lipid. However, there were significant differences in GDF-15, cystatin C and CRP among patients with different severities of heart failure. The GDF-15 level was 582.6 ± 104.4 pg/ml in patients with grade IV heart failure and 408.4 ± 94.8 pg/ml in patients with grade I heart failure. There was a significance after GDF-15, cystatin C and CRP were adjusted (p = 0.03) and also after the clinical information and GDF-15 were adjusted (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: GDF-15 level is correlated with the CHF severity in patients with coronary atherosclerosis, indicating that it is a potential index to evaluate the CHF severity, providing clues to the biological mechanism and treatment of heart failure.