Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is an emerging biomarker promising to assess prognosis in various pathophysiological conditions including heart failure (HF). The aim of this work was to investigate the prognosis interest of this marker in ambulatory patients with stable HF.

Patients were included in this study in 2010. All patients gave informed consent. Clinical characteristics were registered and biomarkers were assessed. Clinical outcomes were registered regularly by a clinical follow-up or by phone by a dedicated physician.

180 patients (mean age 72.5y±12.5y) were included. Left ventricular ejection fraction was 37.1%±14.2%. Median (1st quartile – 3rd quartile) follow-up was 42.3 (12.3-47.1) months. Survival curves were built and data presented as means±SD when normally distributed. Patients who died during follow up had higher Gal-3 levels at baseline. In partial correlation analysis, Gal-3 level was negatively correlated to renal function assessed by CKD-EPI estimated glomerular filtration rate (Spearman’s rho=-0.252, p=0.003) and positively correlated to NT-proBNP (rho=0.367, p<0.001). Both Galectin-3 and NT-proBNP were significant predictors of all-cause mortality in univariate analysis. In multivariate Cox model, New York Heart Association class (Hazard ratio [95% CI], 1.52 [1-2,33] all cause mortality) and NT-proBNP (2.02 [1.05-3.89], p=0,035 for all cause mortality) remained significantly and indendently predictors of all cause and CV mortality.

Galectin-3 provides information regarding risk of death in ambulatory heart failure patients and is tightly correlated to NT-proBNP and renal function.