N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide concentrations predict the risk of cardiovascular adverse events from antiinflammatory drugs: a pilot trial

What Was Tested

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

NT-proBNP was measured in baseline samples from 433 patients enrolled in a prospective randomized study designed to test the therapeutic effect of a novel metalloproteinase inhibitor.

Why It Was Studied

The researchers investigated whether higher concentrations of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) predicts cardiovascular adverse events (CV-AEs) in patients with osteoarthritis treated with antiinflammatory drugs.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 433 patients were involved.

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

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and pilot study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got BNP (Nesiritide) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on BNP (Nesiritide), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger BNP (Nesiritide) study would be practical.

The researchers monitored CV-AEs and retrospectively investigated their relationship to the concomitant use of selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors (coxibs), traditional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (tNSAIDs), and glucocorticoids.

CV-AEs included myocardial infarction, stroke, new or worsening of preexisting arterial hypertension, congestive heart failure, and several less severe CV-AEs.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal, Biomarkers, Cardiovascular Diseases, Glucocorticoids, Metalloproteases and Natriuretic Peptide, Brain.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and pilot study of BNP (Nesiritide) in 433 patients.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2008 (Clinical chemistry), a journal based in England.

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