Effects of Jitai tablet, a traditional Chinese medicine, on plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol levels in heroin addicts during abstinence

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of ACTH (Corticotropin), published as a randomized controlled trial.

To investigate the changes in adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol in heroin addicts given Jitai tablet treatment during abstinence.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 99 volunteers taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, both men and women.

99 volunteers, including 69 heroin addicts and 30 healthy volunteers.

69 heroin addicts randomly divided into two groups: the Jitai tablet group, which comprised 34 heroin addicts given Jitai tablet treatment during abstinence, and the placebo group, which comprised 35 heroin addicts given placebo.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled 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 comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with ACTH (Corticotropin) could be set against what happens without it.

Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Drug Rehabilitation Bureau of Shanghai Police, China.

A control group consisted of 30 sex- and age-matched healthy volunteers.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Drugs, Chinese Herbal, Heroin Dependence, Hydrocortisone and Substance Withdrawal Syndrome.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of ACTH (Corticotropin) in 99 volunteers.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2014 (Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)), a journal based in United States.

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