Potential markers for the diagnosis of heart failure in patients with asthma

Abstract

Asthma is a global health problem affecting countries worldwide. Currently, there is an increasing prevalence of patients with asthma who also suffer from concomitant cardiovascular pathology. The most common comorbidity is the coexistence of asthma and chronic heart failure (CHF). Given the overlap in clinical symptoms, differential diagnosis of these diseases at onset can be quite challenging. This raises the question of the possibility of early diagnosis of CHF in patients with asthma and the need to continue searching for etiopathogenic markers, as most laboratory indicators do not have 100% pathognomonic value. An analysis of available literature data on potential CHF markers in patients with a history of asthma was conducted. Information queries included the following set of keywords: "markers of chronic heart failure, bronchial asthma, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP)." It was found that NTproBNP, currently considered the "gold standard" for diagnosing CHF, does not have absolute prognostic value, indicating the need for further search for highly sensitive and more specific markers. The article presents new biological markers, such as the fibrosis marker galectin-3, gamma-glutamyltransferase, growth stimulating factor, pentraxin 3, and tenascin C, which could be used for forecasting and risk stratification of heart failure development. It is concluded that the search for new biological markers would facilitate earlier diagnosis of CHF, thereby enabling timely therapy initiation, which could help reduce hospitalizations and improve the quality of life of patients.