Brain Atrophy, N-Terminal Brain Natriuretic Peptide, and Carotid Disease

In this issue, Sabayan et al discuss their findings from the AGES-Reykjavik study, on the association between brain atrophy and baseline N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), a marker of cardiac dysfunction and carotid intima media thickness (CIMT), a marker of carotid atherosclerosis burden.1 They found that both higher NT-proBNP and CIMT were associated with longer term decline in total brain and grey matter volume but not with white matter volume. The highest rates of brain volume decline (at around three times that seen in normal ageing) were seen in subjects with both high NT-proBNP and CIMT and this was independent of age, education and cardiovascular factors