Introduction to the American Heart Association's Hypertension Strategically Focused Research Network.

Abstract

In 2014, the American Heart Association (AHA) announced the funding of a Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN) focused on hypertension. Hypertension was chosen for a SFRN because interdisciplinary hypertension research has great potential to impact the AHA’s mission and 2020 goals of improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke by 20% by 2020. Four centers with highly integrated basic, clinical, and population science projects were selected for the AHA SFRN: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and University of Iowa (UI). The Cincinnati center is studying ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and hypertensive target organ damage in adolescents. The MCW center is studying epigenetics of hypertension by conducting studies of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns. The UAB center is studying racial differences in the prevalence and determinants of abnormal diurnal BP patterns. The UI center is studying copeptin, a possible early biomarker for preeclampsia and vascular endothelial function, and arterial stiffness changes occurring before and during preeclampsia. In this article, we provide an overview of the science being conducted at each center and describe the innovative training program incorporated into the SFRN. A goal of the Hypertension SFRN is to facilitate collaborative research. Therefore, we describe opportunities and resources available to researchers interested in collaborating with SFRN investigators. The AHA Hypertension SFRN has the potential to identify new approaches for the prevention and treatment of hypertension and, ultimately, improve the cardiovascular health of Americans. The SFRN is a mechanism initiated by the AHA to address key strategic issues as determined by the AHA Board of Directors. In 2014, hypertension was selected for a SFRN because improvement in its prevention and treatment has the potential to impact the AHA’s mission and 2020 goals: to …