Plasma amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and accuracy of heart-failure diagnosis in primary care: a randomized, controlled trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at BNP (Nesiritide).

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (N-BNP) on the diagnostic accuracy of heart failure (HF) in primary care.

Why It Was Studied

The accurate diagnosis of patients with suspected HF presenting in primary care is difficult.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

Patients presenting to their general practitioner (GP) with symptoms of dyspnea and/or peripheral edema were included.

The GPs formulated an initial diagnosis based on clinical assessment.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the BNP (Nesiritide) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

The Natriuretic Peptides in the Community Study was a prospective, randomized controlled trial of the effect of N-BNP on the accuracy of HF diagnosis.

All patients underwent a full cardiologic assessment that included echocardiography and N-BNP.

Each patient was randomized to the BNP group (GP received the N-BNP result) or the control group (GP did not receive the N-BNP result).

Patients were then reviewed by their GP, and their diagnosis was reviewed.

The primary end point was the accuracy of the GPs' diagnoses compared with the panel standard.

What Was Measured

The accurate diagnosis of patients with suspected HF presenting in primary care is difficult.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Biomarkers, Heart Failure, Natriuretic Peptide, Brain and Primary Health Care.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of BNP (Nesiritide).

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2003 (Journal of the American College of Cardiology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the BNP (Nesiritide) compound page, all human trials.