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Differentiating congenital or acquired heart disease from respiratory problems or other medical conditions can be difficult, particularly in infants. To examine the value of brain-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in children, investigators compared 33 children who had newly diagnosed critical heart disease and were admitted to the intensive care unit and 70 children with no history of heart disease who presented to the emergency department with respiratory or infectious complaints (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath). Serum BNP levels were obtained at admission to the cardiac intensive care unit in cases and at admission to the emergency department in controls. Age range of cases was 3 days to 18 years and age range of controls wa…