Table 1.

Baseline patient characteristics according to age-adjusted NT-proBNP levels

	All Patients n 499	High NT-proBNP n 68	Low NT-proBNP n 431	p*
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Cardiovascular risk factors
Male sex	259 (52.0)	32 (47.1)	227 (52.7)	0.443
Age, yrs – median [IQR]	66 [52–77]	82.0 [74.0–88.0]	63.0 [50.5–75.0]	< 0.001
BMI, kg/m2 – median (IQR)	28.7 [25.6–32.8]	28.4 [25.5–33.5]	28.7 [25.7–32.6]	0.873
Ever smoked	107 (21.4)	17 (25.0)	90 (20.9)	0.707
Hypertension	245 (49.1)	57 (83.8)	188 (43.6)	< 0.001
Dyslipidemia	171 (34.3)	30 (44.1)	141 (32.7)	0.072
Diabetes mellitus	103 (20.7)	25 (36.8)	78 (18.1)	0.001
Comorbidities
Cerebrovascular disease	32 (6.4)	10 (14.7)	22 (5.1)	0.006
Coronary heart disease	36 (7.2)	14 (20.6)	22 (5.1)	< 0.001
Atrial fibrillation	38 (7.6)	22 (32.4)	16 (3.71)	< 0.001
Chronic heart failure	26 (5.2)	14 (20.6)	12 (2.8)	< 0.001
Chronic kidney disease	48 (9.6)	26 (38.2)	22 (5.1)	< 0.001
Cancer	67 (13.4)	12 (17.6)	55 (12.8)	0.346
Peripheral vascular disease	15 (3.0)	7 (10.3)	8 (1.9)	0.002
COPD	39 (7.8)	12 (17.6)	27 (6.3)	< 0.003
Laboratory blood tests – median [IQR)
Leukocytes, µL×10^3	6.5 [4.98–8.44]	8.55 [6.54–11.7]	6.30 [4.84–8.04]	< 0.001
Lymphocytes, µL×10^3	1.06 [0.74–1.50]	0.80 [0.49–1.18]	1.10 [0.79–1.54]	< 0.001
Creatinine, mg/dL	0.9 [0.71–1.12]	1.25 [0.98–1.80]	0.87 [0.68–1.06]	< 0.001
Haemoglobin, g/dL	13.6 [12.3–14.6]	12.4 [10.9–13.4]	13.8 [12.5–14.7]	< 0.001
LDH, U/L	287 [233–378]	392 [272–501]	281 [228–362]	< 0.001
C-reactive protein, mg/dL	7.85 [3.18–14.2]	11.2 [5.20–24.0]	7.10 [3.00–13.0]	< 0.001
D-Dimer, ng/mL	700 [440–1232]	1130 [680–2365]	670 [426–1100]	< 0.001
hs-cTnT, ng/L	0 [0-19.6]	50.7 [29.7–100]	0.00 [0.00-14.3]	< 0.001

IQR, interquartile range; BMI, body mass index; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; hs-cTnT, high sensitive cardiac-specific troponin T

*p-value for the comparison between patients with high vs. low NT-proBNP levels