Background: Blood urea nitrogen to albumin ratio (BAR) has been implicated in predicting outcomes of various inflammatory-related diseases. However, the predictive value of BAR in long-term mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has not yet been evaluated.
Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, the patients were recruited from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC III) database and categorized into two groups by a cutoff value of BAR. Kaplan–Meier (K-M) analysis and Cox proportional hazard model were performed to determine the predictive value of BAR in long-term mortality following AMI. In order to adjust the baseline differences, a 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was carried out and the results were further validated.
Results: A total of 1827 eligible patients were enrolled. The optimal cutoff value of BAR for four-year mortality was 7.83 mg/g. Patients in the high BAR group tended to have a longer intensive care unit (ICU) stay and a higher rate of one-, two-, three- and four-year mortality (all p< 0.001) compared with those in the low BAR group. K-M curves indicated a significant difference in four-year survival (p< 0.001) between low and high BAR groups. The Cox proportional hazards model showed that higher BAR (> 7.83) was independently associated with increased four-year mortality in the entire cohort, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.478 [95% CI (1.254– 1.740), p< 0.001]. After PSM, the baseline characteristics of 312 pairs of patients in the high and low BAR groups were well balanced, and similar results were observed in K-M curve (p=0.003).
Conclusion: A higher BAR (> 7.83) was associated with four-year mortality in patients with AMI. As an easily available biomarker, BAR can predict the long-term mortality in AMI patients independently.
Keywords: acute myocardial infarction, blood urea nitrogen, albumin, long-term mortality, MIMIC III database