Two leading Hudson Institute researchers are taking their discoveries closer to the clinic and bringing better health to the lives of preterm babies and Australians with hypertension, thanks to significant new Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grants.
MRFF hypertension project
Associate Professor Jun Yang and a team from Monash University, University of Adelaide and University of Tasmania, have received an MRFF Clinical Trials Activity grant of $2,290,000 over four years for their CONSEP trial – aiming to increase diagnosis of a major undiagnosed cause of hypertension (high blood pressure).
A/Prof Yang, a Group Head at Hudson Institute and clinical endocrinologist at Monash Health, has previously established that around 10 per cent of people living with hypertension have a potentially curable form known as primary aldosteronism (PA), also called Conn syndrome.
"We already have a simple blood test for PA which opens the door to effective, targeted treatment," A Prof Yang said. "But so far it's not something GPs routinely use, which means hundreds of thousands of Australians living with PA-induced hypertension remain undiagnosed."
"Our CONSEP trial in GP clinics in Melbourne, Hobart and Adelaide will test a new intervention, based on educational outreach and electronic clinical decision support, in a randomised clinical trial, to explore its impact on improving PA detection and patient outcomes."
