The role of growth differentiation factor 15 as a predictor of 5-year survival of patients after acute coronary syndrome

One of the problems of modern cardiology in Ukraine and the world is acute coronary syndrome (ACS), which results in high mortality and invalidation of patients. Recently, much attention is drawn to the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15). A lot of studies provided, in which the role of GDF-15 in cardiovascular pathology proved.

AIM: The aim of the study was to determine the predictive possibility of the GDF-15 marker in the stratification of the ACS complications risk within 5 years after the event.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: 70 patients with ACS were involved. The mean age was (61.8 +/- 1.3) years, the following diagnosis was established in the patients: 76 patients had acute myocardial infarction with Q (AMI with Q), 28 - acute myocardial infarction without Q (AMI without Q) and 36 patients were diagnosed unstable angina (UA). During the follow-up period the endpoint was reached by 28 patients.

RESULTS: A statistical relationship between the elevated level of GDF - 15 and the 5-year survival of these patients (χ2 = 4.75, p = 0.03) has been found. It was established that the level of the GDF-15 biomarker > 2350 pg/ml independently predicted the onset of adverse events with the sensitivity of 80% and the specificity of 60% (p = 0.006). To investigate the influence of the GDF-15 levels on mortality in the remote period, the Cox regression analysis was performed. It was revealed that the level of GDF-15 significantly predicted the onset of the primary endpoint within 5 years after ACS (p = 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS: The increased level of GDF-15, determined in the first 24 hours after development of ACS, is highly associated with the adverse outcome within 5 years after the event.