Serum visfatin concentrations are positively associated with ventricular arrhythmias: a single-center preliminary study

BACKGROUND/AIM: Visfatin has been reported to be closely related to cardiovascular diseases associated with inflammation, but the correlation between visfatin and ventricular arrhythmia (VA) has not been discussed yet. The study aims to explore the association between serum visfatin concentrations and VA in patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-seven hospitalized patients diagnosed with VA and 131 control subjects were enrolled in this cross-sectional study between May 20, 2017 and November 8, 2019. Classification of VA types was based on the presence of structural heart disease (SHD). The patients’ blood samples were collected to examine their serum levels of visfatin. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance and t-test. Furthermore, binary logistic regression analysis was used to validate whether elevated visfatin was independently associated with VA. RESULTS: Compared with the controls (mean age, 64.2 ± 13.2 years; 71% of men), the patients with VA (68.2 ± 11.6 years, 58%) had higher serum levels of visfatin (1.80 ± 0.47 ng/mL versus 1.48 ± 0.41 ng/mL; p <0.001). After further grouping patients according to the presence of SHD, the serum levels of VA patients with SHD were the highest. Moreover, binary logistic regression analysis identified age (OR = 1.043; 95% CI, 1.015–1.072, p = 0.003), history of stroke (OR = 2.065; 95% CI, 1.450–5.696, p = 0.005), hsCRP (>10 mg/L) (OR = 4.123; 95% CI, 1.888–9.001, p < 0.001), and elevated visfatin level (>1.40 ng/L) (OR = 3.126; 95% CI, 1.544–6.328, p = 0.002) as independent risk factors with VA. CONCLUSION: Serum visfatin levels were significantly elevated in the patients with VA, and increased with the risk rating of VA.