This study is the largest study yet of thiamin deficiency among hospitalized heart failure patients, and it included participants with various degrees of illness. The researchers, including lead author Stacy A. Hanninen, R.D., M.S.C., measured the thiamin levels of 100 consecutively admitted patients with heart failure. They also measured the thiamin levels of 50 healthy people. The heart failure patients were almost three times as likely to be deficient in thiamin as the control subjects (33 percent versus 12 percent, p = 0.007).
"Our sample is quite representative of our hospitalized population of heart failure patients. We also used a direct measurement of thiamin status--the erythrocyte thiamin pyrophosphate--which is more specific than earlier assays that indirectly measured enzyme activity. Finally, our study also investigated factors other than diuretic medication, such as diet, medical status and demographic factors that might be contributing to the development of thiamin deficiency," Dr. Keith said.
In contrast to earlier studies, these results did not show an association between the use of diuretic medications and thiamin deficiency. However, Dr. Keith said that their report is not the final word on this point.
"The relationships between thiamin loss, thiamin status and diuretic use are not definitively established and controversy remains. Our population was a cross-section of hospitalized patients who had differing levels of disease severity and had differing doses of diuretics prior to their admission, which may have accounted for the lack of relationship between diuretic dose and thiamin deficiency," she said.
Dr. Keith also pointed out that although they observed that patients taking supplements
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Contact: Amy Murphy
amurphy@acc.org
301-581-3476
American College of Cardiology
13-Jan-2006