Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
The cardiac ventricles release brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) when the cardiomyocytes are exceptionally stressed. Past research has indicated that BNP can be a used as a prognostic indicator in heart failure patients (Doust et al., 2005). The hypothesis is that higher BNP readings will result in a shorter amount of time that the patient has to live. 210 patients with a heart condition were admitted to the Hospice of Palm Beach County and had their blood drawn to determine their BNP level; however, only 35 patients qualified for the final analysis. The 35 patients had BNP readings ranging from 63 pg/ml to 50000 pg/ml with the average being 6620 pg/ml, whereas the normal range is <100 pg/ml. The time between the last BNP reading and the date of death ranged from 1 day to 732 days with the average being 118 days; furthermore, the trend indicated that the higher the BNP level the shorter the patient had to live which agrees with the hypothesis.
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