Effect of SR 49059, a V1a vasopressin receptor antagonist, in Raynaud's phenomenon.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Hormone Antagonists in the context of raynaud's in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 20 patients were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Bilateral finger systolic blood pressure and skin temperature were assessed before and after immersion of the hand in cold water for 3 min (15 degrees C) during the screening phase and three times (before and 2 and 4 h after drug intake) on days 1 and 7 of each of the two treatment periods.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Hormone Antagonists group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the patients and researchers unaware of who received Hormone Antagonists.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Hormone Antagonists group a baseline to be compared against.

In the crossover set-up each of the patients took both Hormone Antagonists and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Recovery of digital pressure and skin temperature was measured 0, 10, 20 and 32 min after the end of the cold immersion test.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists, Blood Pressure, Cold Temperature, Fingers, Hormone Antagonists, Immersion and Indoles.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Hormone Antagonists in 20 patients in people with raynaud's.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2000 (Rheumatology (Oxford, England)), a journal based in England.

More context: Raynaud's research.