Finding Heart Failure in Those Prescribed Loop Diuretics in Primary Care in Jersey (FIND HF LOOP)

Finding Heart Failure in Those Prescribed Loop Diuretics in Primary Care in Jersey (FIND-HF LOOP)

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a simple blood test screening pathway can help diagnose heart failure earlier in adults in primary care who take loop diuretic medicines (such as furosemide or bumetanide) but do not have a recorded diagnosis of heart failure.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. Does offering a NT-proBNP blood test to eligible patients increase the number of new heart failure diagnoses within 12 months compared with usual care?
2. Does this screening pathway also uncover other important heart problems, such as irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias) or valve disease?

This is a cluster randomised controlled trial, which means that whole GP practices, rather than individual patients, are randomly assigned to one of two approaches:

1. NT-proBNP screening pathway, in which eligible patients are invited for a NT-proBNP blood test
2. Usual care, in which patients continue to be managed as they normally would without proactive screening

Participants will:

Be identified from GP records if they are prescribed loop diuretics and have no prior diagnosis of heart failure

In screening practices, be invited to attend for a free finger-prick NT-proBNP blood test and brief questionnaire

Be referred to the heart failure team and invited for an echocardiogram (a heart ultrasound scan) and further assessment if their NT-proBNP level is higher than 125 pg/mL

Researchers will compare outcomes between screening and usual-care practices after 12 months, focusing on new diagnoses of heart failure. They will also look at other important cardiovascular findings, such as new arrhythmias, valve disease, and heart failure hospitalisation rates.

Study Overview

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Conditions: Heart Failure; Diuretics
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: NT-proBNP screening

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 400
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Jersey
  • Saint Helier, Jersey
    • Jersey General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Receiving a loop diuretic (furosemide, bumetanide or torsemide)
• No coded diagnosis of heart failure in GP records
• Never had a natriuretic peptide test
• Willing to have a blood test for NT-proBNP

Exclusion Criteria:

• Clinical Frailty Score 7 or above on Rockwood frailty scale
• Prior diagnosis of heart failure
• Prior natriuretic peptide testing

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention - NTproBNP Screening; Half of the island's GP surgeries will be randomly allocated to the intervention arm, whereby patients receiving a loop diuretic but without a diagnosis of heart failure or natriuretic peptide testing will be invited for a point of care NT-proBNP test.	Diagnostic test: NT-proBNP screening; Patients in the intervention arm will be invited for a free point of care NT-proBNP blood test
No Intervention: Control - Usual care; Half of the island's GP surgeries will be randomly allocated to the control arm, whereby patients will continue with usual clinical care and won't be approached by the study team.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
New Heart Failure diagnosis at 12 months	12 months from practice enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
All cause mortality		12 months
New clinically relevant cardiovascular disease	This will include moderate valvular disease and arrhythmia (eg, AF).	12 months
Heart Failure Hospitalisations		12 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Number of patients with heart failure but not coded in primary care record	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Government of Jersey

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 22, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 22, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): January 6, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 22, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Heart Failure; Natriuretic peptide; Screening; NT-proBNP
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Heart Diseases; Heart Failure
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2025HCJREC03

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No