Comorbid Diabetes Is Associated With Dyspnea Severity and Cardiometabolic Biomarkers in Black Adults With Heart Failure.
Brittany Butts, Julia Kamara, Alanna A Morris and 3 others
PMID 39420458WHAT IT FOUND
Black adults with heart failure and diabetes had higher self-reported shortness of breath scores than those without diabetes. 29 cardiometabolic and inflammatory markers were also higher, but lack clinical cutoffs.
Key findings
01In Black adults with heart failure, comorbid diabetes was associated with higher PROMIS dyspnea severity scores after controlling for age, sex, and adjusted CCI.
02Twenty-nine cardiometabolic and inflammatory biomarkers were higher in Black adults with heart failure and diabetes than in those with heart failure alone.
03The biomarkers studied do not have established clinical cutoffs or direct applications, limiting immediate clinical interpretation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a small pilot study, and pandemic disruptions prevented reaching the intended goal of 50 participants. Only 41 of 79 enrolled adults had complete biospecimen and symptom data, and the comparison groups were 15 and 26. The study did not assign treatment, so it cannot show that diabetes caused higher dyspnea or biomarker levels. The biomarkers measured do not have established clinical cutoffs or direct applications, so they cannot guide patient care yet. The paper does not clearly name a single primary outcome and reports many biomarker comparisons, so the findings are hypothesis-generating. NYHA class was missing for 18 participants (44%), so functional status is incomplete. The reported dyspnea means, 44.16 and 55.71, are not clearly assigned to the groups in the text, so the exact numeric difference should be checked against the source. Race, symptoms, and COVID-19 history were self-reported, which may be inaccurate.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The study was part of the P30 Center for the Study of Symptom Science, Metabolomics and Multiple Chronic Conditions.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the higher biomarker levels as tests that can diagnose or guide treatment. This was a small pilot in Black adults, and the paper says the biomarkers do not have established clinical cutoffs or direct applications.