Plasma BNP in the diagnosis of dyspnea

Shown are the plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations in patients presenting with acute dyspnea who are diagnosed noncardiac causes without or with a history of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, or heart failure (HF). Patients with a diagnosis of HF have significantly higher median values of plasma BNP compared to those without heart failure (675 versus 110 pg/mL). The boxes show the interquarile ranges, and the I bars represent the highest and lowest values.