Limitations
Several study limitations should be acknowledged. First, this was not a prespecified analysis of the LOOP study and the findings should be considered exploratory and hypothesis generating only. Second, echocardiographic data are lacking, although multivariable adjustments were performed as an attempt to accommodate confounders mediating the link between ventricular function and NT-proBNP. Third, due to the inclusion criteria of the LOOP study, our study population comprised solely individuals aged 70 to 90 years, which limits the generalizability of our results to other age groups. Finally, values for NT-proBNP expressed as pg/mL instead of pmol/L may differ slightly, depending on the number of significant figures in the conversion factor.