Hypertension Paid Clinical Trials in Colorado

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Aging is the primary risk factor for CVD, in large part due to adverse modifications to the arteries. These modifications include vascular endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness. Vascular endothelial dysfunction is an initiating step in atherosclerosis, and is primarily caused by reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability secondary to excessive superoxide-driven oxidative stress and inflammation. Endothelial dysfunction leads to arterial stiffness and the development of hypertension (HTN) which further increases CVD. Greater than 2/3 of the US population has elevated blood pressure or stage 1-HTN. As such, interventions that improve vascular endothelial dysfunction by increasing NO bioavailability and mitigating excessive oxidative stress and inflammation are needed. Blueberries are rich in bioactive compounds including flavonoids, phenolic acids, and pterostilbene. These compounds and their metabolites have been shown to attenuate oxidative stress and inflammation. The primary goal of this study is to assess the efficacy of blueberries to improve reduce blood pressure and improve vascular endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness in middle-aged/older men with elevated blood pressure or stage 1-HTN. Read Less

The PHA Registry (PHAR) is a national study about people who have pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). PHAR collects information from people with PAH and CTEPH who are cared for in participating PHA-accredited Pulmonary Hypertension Care Centers throughout the U.S. PHAR will determine how people with PAH and CTEPH are evaluated, tested, and treated, and will observe how well these participants do. The goal is to see if people with PH are treated according to recommended guidelines, and to see if there are certain factors that can lead to better or worse outcomes. PHAR will include information about people with PAH and CTEPH in the U.S. who are seen at participating PHA-accredited PH Care Centers. PHAR contains data about patient care and outcomes. Specifically, data in the PHAR includes information on diagnosis; clinical status; socioeconomic status; diagnosis test results; body size; treatment information; interest in participating in clinical trials; family health and social history; and information about smoking, alcohol, or drug use. Participants are followed over time, and provide updates such as changes in therapy, how often participants need to go to the hospital, and survival. Such information may help healthcare providers provide better care. Read Less

Above-normal systolic blood pressure (SBP), defined as SBP \>/= 120 mmHg, is the major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, cognitive decline/dementia, and other chronic health problems. Despite the availability of treatments to lower SBP, over 75 percent of adults with above-normal SBP fail to control BP, which has led to a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of deaths attributable to BP over the past decade. Therefore, above-normal SBP is a major public health burden. * Greater than 65 percent of adults 50 years of age and older have above-normal SBP. The number of adults age 50 years and older is rapidly increasing, predicting a continued increase in above-normal SBP driven morbidity and mortality in the absence of effective treatment strategies. This makes developing novel SBP-lowering therapies an urgent biomedical research priority. * Increasing SBP is closely linked to vascular dysfunction, observable as impaired endothelial function, increased large-elastic artery stiffness, and impaired cerebrovascular function. Declines in these functions play a large role in the increased risk of chronic disease associated with above-normal SBP. The primary mechanism responsible for SBP-induced vascular dysfunction is thought to be oxidative stress-associated inhibition of nitric oxide bioavailability. Therefore, to have the largest biomedical impact, new SBP-lowering therapies should also improve vascular function by decreasing oxidative stress. * Healthy lifestyle practices, such as conventional aerobic exercise, maintaining a healthy diet, or reducing sodium intake, are all first-line strategies to lower SBP. Importantly, these lifestyle practices also improve vascular function, in large part by reducing oxidative stress. However, adherence to healthy lifestyle practices is poor, with adherence to guidelines generally between 20 to 40 percent in adult Americans. The greatest reported barrier to meeting healthy lifestyle guidelines is lack of time. Therefore, time-efficient interventions have great promise for promoting adherence, reducing SBP, and improving other physiological functions. * High-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training (IMST) is a time-efficient (5 minutes per session) lifestyle intervention consisting of 30 inspiratory maneuvers performed against a high resistance. Preliminary data suggest 6-weeks of IMST performed 6 days/week reduces SBP by 9 mmHg in adults with above-normal SBP (i.e., greater than 120 mmHg) at baseline. Importantly, this reduction in SBP is equal to or greater than the reduction in blood pressure typically achieved with time- and effort-intensive healthy lifestyle strategies like conventional aerobic exercise. However, these results need to be confirmed in an appropriately powered clinical trial with a longer, guideline-based treatment duration. Furthermore, the influence of IMST on functions impaired by above-normal SBP (endothelial, cerebrovascular, cognitive) needs to be determined, as do the mechanisms through which IMST exerts beneficial effects. * Accordingly, we will conduct a randomized, blinded, sham-controlled, parallel group design clinical trial to assess the efficacy of 3-months of IMST (75 percent maximal inspiratory pressure) vs. brisk walking (40-60% heart rate reserve; an established healthy lifestyle strategy) for lowering SBP and improving endothelial, cerebrovascular, and cognitive function in adults age 50 years and older with above-normal SBP. I hypothesize IMST will lower SBP and improve endothelial function by decreasing oxidative stress and increasing nitric oxide bioavailability. I also hypothesize IMST will improve cerebrovascular and cognitive function, and that these improvements will be related to reductions in SBP and improvements in endothelial function. I also expect adherence to the intervention to be excellent (over 80 percent of all training sessions completed at the appropriate intensity). * To test my hypothesis, I will recruit 102 adults age 50 years and older who have SBP \>/= 120 mmHg. Subjects will undergo baseline testing for casual (resting) SBP, 24-hour ambulatory SBP, endothelial function, arterial stiffness, cognitive function, and cerebrovascular function. Innovative mechanistic probes including pharmaco-dissection with vitamin C, analysis of biopsied endothelial cells, and high-throughput metabolomics, will be performed to assess oxidative stress and nitric oxide bioavailability at baseline. * After baseline testing, subjects will be randomized to perform either 3-months of high-resistance IMST or brisk walking. Subjects will train 6 days/week with one training session supervised in the laboratory and the other 5 performed unsupervised at home. Following 3 months of training, subjects will redo all the tests that were done during baseline testing to assess training-induced changes in SBP, physiological functions, and underlying mechanisms. Read Less