Elevated Serum Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 Is Relevant to Heart Failure Patients with Reduced Ejection Fraction

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the roles of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction and its association with Heart Failure with reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF). METHODS: The level of FGF21 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 199 subjects enrolled in this study, including 128 subjects with HFrEF and 71 control subjects. The mean follow-up time was 13.36 months. The left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) percentage were evaluated by the 2D echocardiography. Serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) was measured in the routine clinical laboratory. RESULTS: The serum FGF21 level was evidently higher in patients with HFrEF than in the control group (228.72 ± 24.04 vs. 171.60 ± 12.98, p < 0.001). After 1 year of follow-up, 61 patients (47.66%) with heart failure were readmitted to the hospital, including 8 deaths (13.11%). The AUC of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the predictive value of FGF21 for prognosis was 0.964. Kaplan-Meier analysis results showed that there were significant differences in the 1-year mortality and heart failure readmission events between the grouped subjects. A poor prognosis was correlated with the serum level of FGF21, BNP, LVEDD, and LVEF, which was confirmed by the univariate Cox analysis. CONCLUSION: FGF21 was independently associated with an increased risk of mortality and readmission HFrEF patients. Therefore, FGF21 has the potential to be a biomarker for the progression of HFrEF in patients.