MultiCare selected for grant to study effects of airway pressure intervention for patients with hypertension and sleep apnea
By MultiCare Health System
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute announced Oct. 6 that the MultiCare Institute for Research & Innovation will receive a grant for $50,000 to support a year-long study on the effects of Positive Airway Pressure Intervention for people who suffer from moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea and drug resistant high blood pressure.
Hypertension affects one in three adults in the United States and is considered “resistant” when blood pressure remains uncontrolled. Drug-resistant high blood pressure is a common but severe clinical problem that also predicts adverse cardiovascular events. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most undiagnosed and untreated condition that also occurs along with hypertension; it is present in at least two-thirds of resistant hypertension patients; yet this clinically significant subgroup has not been sufficiently studied.
The Research Institute study team aims to examine the effects of continuous positive airway pressure sleep apnea treatment (known as CPAP) on blood pressure control. To do so, the team seeks to learn more about the roles of demographic characteristics, other existing conditions, unmet needs and behavior patterns in these patients.
“There are many challenges for health care to address chronic comorbidities, in this case, hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea. Unless we can actively engage the specific patient group needed for our research, their needs and concerns will not be properly reflected in treatment innovations,” says project lead Jin Mou, MD, PhD, of the MultiCare Institute for Research & Innovation. “MultiCare will listen to patients and incorporate patient voices into our research design. This shows our promise to bridge patient-centered care and scientific principles.”
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute is an independent nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions. PCORI has awarded nearly $2.4 million for 50 new projects through its Pipeline to Proposal Awards program. This initiative is designed to develop a nationwide community of patients, researchers and other health care stakeholders with the knowledge and capacity to participate in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR).
By providing seed funds, the Pipeline to Proposal Awards program serves to help people forge new relationships within their communities and build the infrastructure needed to conduct research. The goal is to turn a shared interest in a critical health care topic into patient-centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) proposals that they can submit to PCORI or another research funder.
Learn more about participating in a MultiCare Institute for Research & Innovation study
