Rationale and design of the Acute Study of Clinical Effectiveness of Nesiritide in Decompensated Heart Failure Trial (ASCEND-HF)

What Was Tested

Researchers studied BNP (Nesiritide) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

However, the effect of nesiritide on dyspnea at 6 or 24 hours is unknown, and no clinical outcome trials have been done to provide a reliable estimate of the effect of nesiritide on morbidity and mortality.

Who Took Part

The study group was 7,000 patients.

Patients hospitalized for hear failure will be randomly assigned to receive either intravenous nesiritide or matching placebo for 24 hours to 7 days.

A total of 7,000 patients will be enrolled worldwide between 2007 and 2010.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and placebo-controlled study.

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

Some patients received a placebo instead of BNP (Nesiritide), giving a reference point.

What Was Measured

However, the effect of nesiritide on dyspnea at 6 or 24 hours is unknown, and no clinical outcome trials have been done to provide a reliable estimate of the effect of nesiritide on morbidity and mortality.

The subject headings attached to it are Dyspnea, Heart Failure, Hospitalization, Morbidity, Natriuretic Agents, Natriuretic Peptide, Brain and Survival Analysis.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of BNP (Nesiritide) in 7,000 patients.

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

Results are reported in around 1 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2009 (American heart journal), a journal based in United States.

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