New Cleveland Clinic and Tufts University research shows that elevated levels of the gut microbiome trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) pathway led to a higher risk of heart failure independent of other risk factors, according to a study of two large National Institutes of Health cohorts.
The study was recently published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure.
Over the past decade, a Cleveland Clinic research team led by Dr. Hazen has published numerous studies linking high levels of TMAO to increased risk of developing both cardiovascular disease, including adverse events like heart attack and stroke, and chronic kidney disease.
The most recent study further investigated this association by following nearly 12,000 participants who were healthy at the time of enrollment, examining the effects of elevated TMAO over time.
Researchers measured a series of blood level samples over almost 16 years, resulting in over 20,000 evaluations of TMAO levels. Overall, 2,102 cases of heart failure occurred.
Within this group, they found that TMAO served as a strong biomarker for identifying subjects at risk for development of heart failure, after adjustment for a range of cardiovascular disease risk factors, sociodemographic, lifestyle, medical and biochemical markers. The findings were generally consistent across cardiovascular disease risk factors including age, race/ethnicity, BMI and baseline renal function.
