Impact of intradialytic exercise on arterial compliance and B-type natriuretic peptide levels in hemodialysis patients

What Was Tested

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

The researchers performed a prospective cross-over trial in 19 hemodialysis (HD) patients to assess the impact of regular exercise on surrogate markers of CV risk-arterial compliance and BNP levels.

Why It Was Studied

Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the most common cause of mortality in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), and arterial stiffness, measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV), is an independent predictor of all-cause and CV mortality.

Exercise involved the use of a bicycle ergometer for minimum 30 min at each HD session for 3 months, with a 1-month washout period.

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.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and crossover study.

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

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both BNP (Nesiritide) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

The timeline in the abstract includes 3 months.

What Was Measured

Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the most common cause of mortality in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), and arterial stiffness, measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV), is an independent predictor of all-cause and CV mortality.

Pulse wave velocity was performed using a SphygmoCor device, with concurrent measurements of BNP and other serum markers, at the commencement of the study, at 3 months, and on completion.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Biomarkers, Cardiovascular Diseases, Compliance, Exercise Therapy, Hemodynamics, Kidney Failure, Chronic and Natriuretic Peptide, Brain.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and crossover study of BNP (Nesiritide) over 3 months.

The publication is from 2008 (Hemodialysis international. International Symposium on Home Hemodialysis), a journal based in Canada.

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