Study Type
Interventional - Drug
completed
The objective of the AF-HTN Pilot study was to compare current guideline-based treatment of blood pressure (target less than or equal to 140/90) to an aggressive treatment of blood pressure (target less than or equal to 120/80) for the prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients.
Patients with AF who have high blood pressure, from four clinical centres across Canada, were invited to participate in the study.
Patients were assigned to either usual care (blood pressure treated to the current guideline-based target of less than 140/90) or aggressive treatment (blood pressure treated to a level of less than 120/80), and had five visits during six months to achieve this target.
The outcome of this pilot phase was to determine the actual achieved blood pressure at 6 and 12 months in the two treatment groups, the difference in blood pressure between groups, the rate of adverse events (if any) in both groups and the feasibility of recruiting eligible study patients.
Study Design
Cohort study
NO. of Countries
1
NO. of Sites
4
NO. of Participants
10
Study Period
2010-2011
Sponsor
PHRI
Jeff Healey
Senior Scientist
Jeff Healey
Senior Scientist
Jeff Healey is a Senior Scientist in the Arrhythmia and Heart Failure research program at PHRI, an Associate Professor, Medicine, McMaster University, and Director of Arrhythmia Services at Hamilton Health Sciences. His research involves conducting RCTs and large registries in the fields of atrial fibrillation and cardiac devices. He was the lead author of the SIMPLE trial, published in the Lancet in 2015, which demonstrated that implantable defibrillators could be safely inserted without performing intra-operative defibrillation testing.
He was the lead author of the ASSERT trial, published in New England Journal of Medicine in 2012, demonstrating the increased stroke risk associated with sub-clinical atrial fibrillation detected by pacemakers. Thomson-Reuters recognized ASSERT as the 38th most-cited scientific publication in 2012 (#16 in Medicine).
He was principal investigator and chair of the Canadian Stroke Prevention Intervention Network (CSPIN), a ten-year network grant funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Industry. He is the past co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Committee. Jeff has published more than 185 manuscripts.
Ellison Themeles
Associate Program Manager
Ellison Themeles
Associate Program Manager
Ellison Themeles’ experience includes more than 20 years in the conduct, execution and management of large, international clinical trials involving both medical devices and pharmaceutical agents in the area of cardiovascular disease and arrhythmias.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Gerontology and Sociology, and a Master of Science Degree in Health Research Methodology, from McMaster University.
