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Hypertension News
Article Date: 05 Sep 2006 - 21:00pm (PDT)
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The Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott,
today launched a new book showcasing the best in
Australian health research from recent years. The
'10 of the Best' book highlights ten world-leading
medical research projects and includes the largest
ever study of the effects of blood pressure lowering
medications on the major killers, stroke and heart
attack.
The George Institute for International Health
established the Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment
Trialists' Collaboration in 1995. The results of
this collaboration are a cornerstone of blood
pressure guidelines in Australia and around the
world. Most notably, the project highlights the need
for renewed efforts to achieve better blood pressure
control.
The research, has also uncovered important
differences in the effectiveness of different types
of blood pressure lowering drugs. Most recently, the
work of the collaboration has provided important
insight into possible differences in the protection
provided by two drug classes often considered
interchangeable - ACE inhibitors and angiotensin
receptor blockers.
Principal investigator of the study, Dr Bruce Neal,
Senior Director at The George Institute said, "This
has been a huge research effort spanning over a
decade. The results have had direct clinical
implications for hundreds of millions of people with
high blood pressure worldwide." He added that,
"While we have identified differences between drug
classes, the most important finding is that
aggressive treatment to drive blood pressure down to
really low levels provides the greatest protection.
The number of drugs, not the choice of drugs, is
more important for most people."
Worldwide, high blood pressure (or hypertension) is
responsible for around 7 million deaths annually.
With an estimated 600 million people having
hypertension, this study makes a major contribution
to our knowledge on how best to prevent the growing
epidemic of death and disability from blood pressure
related disease. Results of the study have been
published in the Lancet on two occassions and
include data from over 160,000 individuals in more
than 50 countries, including Australia and New
Zealand.
The '10 of the best' booklet was written for the
general public to demonstrate the benefits of
medical research resulting from public investment.
Australia is a world leader in health and medical
research - on a per capita basis, our research
output is twice the OECD average. Medical research
makes good health and economic sense. A report by
Access Economics shows that for every $1 invested in
medical research, $5 is returned to the Australian
economy.
The '10 of the Best' has been developed by the
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
The booklet is available on the web at
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/ and also by calling the
NHMRC on 1800-020-103.
###
The George Institute for International Health is an
internationally-recognised health research body,
undertaking high impact research across a broad
health landscape. The Institute is centrally
involved with Australian community health issues in
Aboriginal health, ethnic community health, road
safety and injury, mental health, ageing, healthcare
access, clinical practice in Australian hospitals
and health policy development.
It is also a leader in the clinical trials, health
policy and capacity-building areas. Its research has
a direct, practical impact on a wide range of
healthcare, health policy, safety and socio-cultural
issues facing Australians.
The Institute is affiliated with The University of
Sydney, Sydney South West Area Health Services, and
collaborates in its research with other prestige
research institutes, clinical authorities and policy
centres around the world.
Associate Professor Bruce Neal
Bruce Neal is a Senior Director, Research and
Development at The George Institute for
International Health, Associate Professor in the
Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney,
Heart Foundation Career Development Fellow and an
Honorary Consultant Epidemiologist at the Royal
Prince Alfred Hospital. Bruce completed his medical
training at Bristol University in the UK in 1990 and
spent four years in clinical posts during which time
he gained membership of the UK Royal College of
Physicians. Prior to taking up his current post in
1999, he spent four years working as an
epidemiologist at the Clinical Trials Research Unit
in Auckland, New Zealand, where he completed his PhD
in Medicine.
Contact: Emma Orpilla
Research Australia
