Elevated N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels predict an enhanced anti-hypertensive and anti-proteinuric benefit of dietary sodium restriction and diuretics, but not angiotensin receptor blockade, in proteinuric renal patients

What Was Tested

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

However, both under- and overtitration of sodium targeting can easily occur.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 27 volunteers taking part.

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

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this BNP (Nesiritide) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind BNP (Nesiritide) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the BNP (Nesiritide) group a baseline to be compared against.

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

The methods mention a period of 6 weeks.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers, Antihypertensive Agents, Case-Control Studies, Diet, Sodium-Restricted, Diuretics, Kidney Failure, Chronic and Losartan.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of BNP (Nesiritide) in 27 volunteers over 6 weeks.

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.

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 2012 (Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association), a journal based in England.

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