Evaluation of malnutrition with blood ghrelin and fecal elastase levels in acute decompensated heart failure patients

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Ghrelin in this observational study publication.

Exocrine pancreatic dysfunction may contribute to malnutrition and lack of appetite in the advanced stages of heart failure.

Nutritional assessment was carried out on patients diagnosed with mild or moderate/severe heart failure.

Fecal elastase levels are an indicator of pancreatic exocrine function and ghrelin is an appetite hormone which is also investigated for its contribution to malnutrition.

Who Took Part

The study group was 52 patients.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

This is an observational study. 52 patients (32 males, 20 females) aged over eighteen years and hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) were included in the study.

Patients in New York Heart Association (NYHA) stages 1 and 2 were grouped as mild (miADHF), while those in NYHA stages 3 and 4 were grouped as moderate/severe ADHF (seADHF).

How the Study Was Run

They were compared with 31 people (16 male, 15 female) of the same age as Control Group (C).

Fecal and blood samples were taken at admission.

In ADHF patients, exocrine pancreatic functions and their relationship with malnutrition were evaluated.

Statistical analyses were performed using Tukey's test, the independent-sample t-test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Mann-Whitney U-test, the chi-square test and Pearson's bivariate correlation analysis.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Biomarkers, Feces, Ghrelin, Heart Failure, Malnutrition and Pancreatic Elastase.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of Ghrelin in 52 patients.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2015 (Turk Kardiyoloji Dernegi arsivi : Turk Kardiyoloji Derneginin yayin organidir), a journal based in Turkey.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page, all human trials.