Desmopressin and low-dose ACTH test in rheumatoid arthritis

What Was Tested

Researchers studied ACTH (Corticotropin) and CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone) in the context of rheumatoid arthritis in this randomized controlled trial publication.

To ascertain whether a different regulation and sensitivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis exists and whether a type of cortisol resistance is present in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, a chronic disease in whose pathogenesis modifications of the steroid milieu are involved.

Who Took Part

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

All subjects collected urine specimens for 24 h urine free cortisol (UFC).

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 ACTH (Corticotropin) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with ACTH (Corticotropin) could be set against what happens without it.

Blood samples were collected at different times for ACTH and adrenal steroids assay.

Baseline estradiol (E2), testosterone and IGF-I levels were also evaluated.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Arthritis, Rheumatoid, Cohort Studies, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone, Deamino Arginine Vasopressin, Dehydroepiandrosterone and Hydrocortisone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of ACTH (Corticotropin) and CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone) in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Results are reported in around 12 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 1998 (European journal of endocrinology), a journal based in England.

More context: the ACTH (Corticotropin) compound page and the CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone) compound page, Rheumatoid arthritis research.