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| Vol. 22, No. 9 |
| May 15, 2000 |
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Preventative Hypertension Study Launched by Colleen O'Brien The University of Texas-Houston Medical School How do you prevent hypertension, which affects as many as 50 million people, or one in every four Americans? It has a disasterous effect on the heart, brain, and kidneys. Dr. S. Noor Rahman, in the The University of Texas-Houston Medical School's department of internal medicine/renal diseases and one of 548 U.S. physicians elected into the American Society of Hypertension Specialists Program this past year, thinks he's found a way. A four-year study that he's launching will involve 1,000 clients who are not strictly classified as hypertensive. These patients have "high normal" blood pressure, and fall through the cracks in terms of diagnosis and treatment. High blood pressure makes the heart work harder and, over time, can damage blood vessels throughout the body. Fifteen to 20 percent of these individuals will develop hypertension. Often, at least initially, there are no symptoms. It's only in the next five to six years that heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure, take their toll. Dr. Rahman's approach will be to see if preventative treatment wards off the devastation of hypertension. Periodic examinations, blood tests, and a free electronic blood pressure machine for the qualified patient to take home and record his or her own blood pressure range, will be made available. Males and females, ages 30 to 65, will be part of the randomized study, one-half receiving an angiotension receptor block, candesartan, and the other half receiving a placebo. "The beauty of conducting a study here in Houston," says Dr. Rahman, "is its diverse heterogenous population." Dr. Rahman, collaborates with Drs. Carlos Herrera, Stanley Lewis, and Bruce Kone, in the UT-Houston department of internal medicine, as well as Dr. Stevo Julius, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. One of the questions Dr. Rahman hopes to answer is whether the drug's efficiency will wane or plateau after a certain period of treatment. Clients who develop high blood pressure will be treated with additional drugs. Dr Rahman's goal is to achieve efficacy and control of blood pressure in 90 percent of his subjects in the study. He concludes, "Treatment of disease is what we do. But if we can prevent that disease, we can really make a difference. Once they've had the heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure, or other type of hypertension-related problem, trying to undo what has already been done is very difficult."
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