Effect of candesartan, a type 1 angiotensin II receptor antagonist, on bronchial hyper-responsiveness to methacholine in patients with bronchial asthma

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Angiotensin II, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Angiotensin II is a putative mediator in bronchial asthma.

There have been very few studies investigating the involvement of angiotensin II receptors in bronchial hyper-responsiveness in asthmatic patients.

The researchers examined the effect of candesartan cilexetil, a specific angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist, on bronchial responsiveness to inhaled methacholine in patients with asthma.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 11 patients were involved.

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

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Angiotensin II and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Angiotensin II study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Angiotensin II could be set against what happens without it.

Each person switched between Angiotensin II and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

A time span of 1 week appears in the methods.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Administration, Inhalation, Angiotensin II, Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists, Asthma, Benzimidazoles, Biphenyl Compounds and Bronchi.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Angiotensin II in 11 patients over 1 week.

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.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2002 (British journal of clinical pharmacology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Angiotensin II compound page, all human trials.