The frequency of postoperative BNP measurement and intervention threshold of BNP concentration in pediatric cardiac intensive care unit: a prospective multicenter observational study

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of postoperative BNP measurement in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU). Methods: This was a prospective multicenter observational study. Children under 15 years old who underwent pediatric cardiac surgery were included. Postoperatively, all BNP measurement was collected in PCICU. We checked whether each BNP measurement was used for the decision-making of intervention or not. We divided the BNP measurements into 4 groups: group A 0–299 pg/ml (reference), group B 300–999 pg/ml, group C 1000–1999 pg/ml, group D ≧ 2000 pg/ml. We performed logistic regression analysis to compare the intervention ratio between group A and B, C, D. We also did multiple comparison analyses to compare the intervention ratio in each group. Results: Thirty-nine (15.8%) measurements were used as a criterion to intervene in all BNP measurements. There was no protocol for the measurement of BNP in all institutions. The number of BNP measurements in each group is as follows: group A 113 (45.9%), group B 81 (32.9%), group C 45 (18.3%), group D 7 (2.8%). The intervention ratio in each group was 6.2% (group A), 8.6% (group B), 44.4% (group C), and 71.4% (group D). The intervention ratio of group C and D were significantly higher than group A: (Odds ratio (95%CI): 12.1(4.8–33.9), p < 0.0001, 25.2(5.2–146.2), p < 0.0001). The result of multiple comparisons is similar to logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: High BNP concentration, especially more than 1000 pg/ml, was more often intervened upon compared to that of less than 1000 pg/ml.