The Association of Neuropeptide Y with the Presence and Frequency of Ventricular Premature Beats.

Abstract

Background: The estimated prevalence of ventricular extra systole (VES) in the general population is about 1-4% on ECG, but 24-hour Holter monitoring has shown a prevalence of 40-75%. While it may be asymptomatic in many patients, frequent VES persisting for a long time can negatively affect left ventricular (LV) systolic function in patients without structural heart disease. The etiology of VES is not completely known. In this study, we investigated the role of neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the occurrence of VES.

Material and methods: In this study, we included 150 patients with VES and 86 cases without VES as the control group. 24-hour Holter monitoring was performed on all subjects. Patients with VES were divided into two subgroups according to the frequency of VES as those >15,000 (Group 1, n= 48) and <15,000 (Group 2, n= 102). Venous blood was collected from all cases for biochemistry parameters and NPY level measurement.

Results: There were statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender, smoking, LVEF, NPY, total cholesterol, LVEDD, SDNN, SDNNINDEX, RMSD, PNN50, LF, HF, VLF, and LF/HF (p<0.05, for all). Correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between serum NPY level and number of VES (r=0.577, p=0.001), LF (r=0140, p=0.032), LVEDD (r=0.162, p=0.013), and LVESD (r=0.290, p=0.001). Conversely, a negative correlation was observed between NPY and RMSSD (r=-0.162, p=0.012), SDNNINDEX (r=-0.136, p=0.037). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that NPY (odds ratio [OR]: 1.204; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.103-1.315; p=0.001) was an independent predictor of VES development. ROC curve analysis showed that NPY ≥ 47.9 ng/L predicted the occurrence of VES with a sensitivity of 82.0% and specificity of 81.4%. In addition, NPY ≥ 79.8 predicted the frequency of VES with a sensitivity of 85.5% and specificity of 87.3 %.

Conclusion: Our study showed that serum NPY levels may play an important role in the development of VES. Also, it was found that the frequency of VES increased as the NPY level increased.