• BACKGROUND: Nesiritide is approved in the United States for early relief of dyspnea in patients with acute heart failure. Previous meta-analyses have raised questions regarding renal toxicity and the mortality associated with this agent. METHODS: We randomly assigned 7141 patients who were hospitalized with acute heart failure to receive either nesiritide or placebo for 24 to 168 hours in addition to standard care. Coprimary end points were the change in dyspnea at 6 and 24 hours, as measured on a 7-point Likert scale, and the composite end point of rehospitalization for heart failure or death within 30 days. RESULTS: Patients randomly assigned to nesiritide, as compared with those assigned to placebo, more frequently reported markedly or moderately improved dyspnea at 6 hours (44.5% vs. 42.1%, P=0.03) and 24 hours (68.2% vs. 66.1%, P=0.007), but the prespecified level for significance (P

Nyckelord

Acute Disease

Aged

Double-Blind Method

Dyspnea/*drug therapy/etiology

Female

Heart Failure/complications/*drug therapy/mortality

Humans

Hypotension/chemically induced

Intention to Treat Analysis

Kidney Diseases/etiology

Male

Middle Aged

Natriuretic Agents/adverse effects/*therapeutic use

Natriuretic Peptide

Brain/adverse effects/*therapeutic use

Patient Readmission/*statistics & numerical data

Recurrence

MEDICINE

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)