B-type natriuretic peptide and anthropometric measures in a Brazilian elderly population with a high prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection

► Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) has hemodynamic and lipolytic actions. ► Trypanosoma cruzi has the heart and the adipose tissue as important target organs. ► BNP is inversely related to measures of body mass and body composition in the elderly population of the Bambuí Cohort Study of Aging. ► Despite T.cruzi actions in the adipose tissue, the relation between BNP and anthropometric measures is not different between the infected and non-infected groups.