Comparison of methods for evaluation of the suppressive effects of prednisolone on the HPA axis and bone turnover: changes in s-DHEAS are as sensitive as the ACTH test

What Was Tested

Researchers studied ACTH (Corticotropin) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Different hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function tests are used for diagnosing disease and evaluating suppressive effects of corticosteroid treatment.

Their objectives were to evaluate sensitivity and precision of different HPA axis tests to be able to select one that combines good performance with good practicability, suitable for investigation of new corticosteroids in clinical trials.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 60 volunteers taking part.

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

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and parallel-group study.

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

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

The ACTH (Corticotropin) group and the comparison group ran side by side rather than switching.

The researchers compared the plasma-cortisol (p-cortisol) 24-hour average concentration (Cav) with morning (08:00 hours) p-cortisol, daytime p-cortisol Cav, and 24-hour urinary cortisol excretion.

Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) stimulation tests and the metyrapone test were also performed.

Furthermore, the researchers analyzed levels of serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (s-DHEAS), insulin, and markers of bone turnover.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Bone Remodeling, Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate, Hydrocortisone, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Insulin and Pituitary-Adrenal System.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and parallel-group study of ACTH (Corticotropin) in 60 volunteers.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 8 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2014 (International journal of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the ACTH (Corticotropin) compound page, all human trials.