# Heart failure diagnosis: Impacts of atrial fibrillation on the diagnostic marker NT-proBNP

## TL;DR

Atrial fibrillation reduces the accuracy of a heart failure test, requiring updated guidelines for better diagnosis.

## Contribution

The study reveals how atrial fibrillation affects the reliability of NT-proBNP as a heart failure diagnostic marker.

## Key findings

- Atrial fibrillation lowers the specificity of NT-proBNP for heart failure diagnosis.
- Adjusted thresholds and improved echocardiography access are needed for accurate results.
- NT-proBNP can still be a reliable rule-out test with proper adjustments.

## Abstract

A recent PLOS Medicine study shows that atrial fibrillation lowers the specificity of the biomarker NT-proBNP for heart failure. Adjusted thresholds and better echocardiography access are therefore required for NT-proBNP to remain as a high negative predictive value rule-out test in primary care.