Examining Circulating Growth Differentiation Factor-15 Levels and Its Clinical Significance in Patients with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation

Objective To investigate circulating level of growth differentiation factor-15(GDF-15) in patients withnon-valvular atrial fibrillation(AF). Methods We enrolled 104 consecutive patients with AF(67 are paroxymal AF and 37 are persistent AF) that presented to our hospital between August 2012 and June 2013. Subjects without AF(n=67) was usedas controls who were matched for sex, age and atherosclerotic risk factors enrolled in the same period. Serum GDF-15 con-centration was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). Echocardiography and laboratory parameters werecompared among three groups. The correlation of GDF- 15 and hypersensitive c-reactive protein(hs-CRP) as well as therisk factors of development of AF were also analyzed. Results No significant difference in age, history of hypertension, coro-nary heart disease, and stroke was found among three groups(P 0.05). GDF-15 had significant difference between pa-tients with paroxysmal AF and controls [(1 473.14±628.52)μg/L vs(1 233.592±262.76)μg/L, P =0.012]. GDF-15 level wascorrelated with hs-CRP(rs=0.172,P=0.044). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that high GDF-15 is a risk factor of devel-opment of paroxysmal AF/AF(OR: 1.002, 95% CI: 1.000-1.003, P 0.05). Conclusion Patients with AF have a higher se-rumlevelofGDF-15 compared with controls and GDF-15 level isariskfactor ofdevelopment ofparoxysmalAF/AF.