Short-term effects of atenolol and nifedipine on atrial natriuretic peptide, plasma renin activity, and plasma aldosterone in patients with essential hypertension

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of ANP (Atrial Natriuretic Peptide), published as a randomized controlled trial.

A group of 20 patients with hypertension, after a wash-out period of at least 10 days, was randomly subdivided into two protocol therapy subgroups.

Circulating plasma levels of ANP, PRA, and PA were determined by radioimmunoassay, and other variables were determined by routine laboratory techniques before therapy and at day 3 and day 7 after the treatment began.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 20 patients taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got ANP (Atrial Natriuretic Peptide) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

What Was Measured

Circulating plasma levels of ANP, PRA, and PA were determined by radioimmunoassay, and other variables were determined by routine laboratory techniques before therapy and at day 3 and day 7 after the treatment began.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Aldosterone, Atenolol, Atrial Natriuretic Factor, Hypertension, Nifedipine and Renin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of ANP (Atrial Natriuretic Peptide) in 20 patients.

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 publication is from 1991 (Journal of clinical pharmacology), a journal based in England.

More context: the ANP (Atrial Natriuretic Peptide) compound page, all human trials.