Blum S, Aeschbacher S, Meyre P, et al. - Given that congestive heart failure (CHF) hospitalization occurrence in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) represents a poor prognostic marker, researchers investigated if Insulin-Like Growth Factor-Binding Protein-7 (IGFBP-7), a marker of myocardial damage, detects AF patients carrying a high risk for this complication. Two prospective multicenter observational cohort studies comprising 3,691 AF patients were analyzed. At baseline, frozen plasma samples were analyzed for concentrations of IGFBP-7 and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Experts created multivariable adjusted Cox-regression analyses. In this study, higher plasma concentrations of IGFBP-7 were shown to be strongly and independently related to CHF hospitalization in AF-patients. IGFBP-7 afforded prognostic information which was additive to that of NT-proBNP.