Guo M, Cao X, Shen B, et al. - By performing this prospective analysis, researchers examined maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients in order to investigate the possible predictive value of N-terminal-pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) for pneumonia in these patients. They gathered basic data of 276 MHD patients in Fudan university Zhongshan hospital, who were followed up for 1 year. The first pneumonia event during follow-up was considered as the primary endpoint. Enrolled patients were 276 in total, including 170 men, with a mean age of 59.7 ± 14.0 years. Pneumonia developed in 38 patients during follow-up. Independent predictors of pneumonia, following adjustment for other confounding factors, were age, log NT-proBNP, history of smoking, β2-microglobin, and history of cerebrovascular disease. Based on these findings, it was concluded that NT-proBNP is a predictive factor of pneumonia in patients receiving hemodialysis.