Posted on December 17, 2002 at 9:30 a.m.

WHAT:

Less costly, traditional diuretics work better than newer medicines to treat high blood pressure and prevent some forms of heart disease, according to results from the largest hypertension clinical trial ever conducted, which will be published in two articles in the December 18 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. The long-term, multi-center trial compared the drugs for use in starting treatment for high blood pressure.

WHO:

Dr. Suzanne Oparil, regional coordinator of the Southeastern portion of the study, will be available for comment on the results. Oparil is a UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) professor of medicine and physiology and biophysics in the Division of Cardiovascular Disease, and a former president of the American Heart Association. As coordinator, Oparil monitored and supervised more than 100 sites and 11,000 participants in the Southeastern United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She notes there were a large number of participants from the Southeast and a large number of minorities from this area, particularly because of the high prevalence of high blood pressure in these populations.

WHEN:

Results of the study will be announced at a press conference at 9:30 a.m. EST December 17 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

CONTACT:

To contact Oparil during or following tomorrow’s press conference, call the NHLBI Communications Office at (301) 496-4236 or contact UAB at (205) 934-8935.