After identifying primary aldosteronism (PA) as a significant cause of high blood pressure, Dr Jun Yang is leading a multi-state push to have hospitals equipped to diagnose and treat patients.
As head of the Endocrine Hypertension Group at Hudson Institute and Consultant Endocrinologist at Monash Health, Dr Jun Yang heads a project designed to prepare major hospitals for an expected influx of primary aldosteronism patients.
The project entitled EQUIPPA aims to literally equip tertiary care for the optimal diagnosis of primary aldosteronism, and thanks to funding from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) in the recent federal budget, it's about to be rolled out in four states over the next three years.
The project was awarded $2,993,294 to be distributed through centres in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
High blood pressure could be primary aldosteronism
It comes on the back of the recent study, led by PhD student Dr Renata Libianto, in which GPs tested patients recently diagnosed with high blood pressure (hypertension) for primary aldosteronism and found that its prevalence was massively larger than previously thought.
Dr Yang says it is important to ensure the health system is set up to manage these cases appropriately.
"Before our study, these GPs reported less than one in every thousand of their patients having primary Aldosteronism, but once they started testing for it, the figure jumped to 14 per cent," Dr Yang said.
Preparing hospitals for primary aldosteronism
"If we're identifying more cases of primary aldosteronism, we need our hospitals and pathology labs equipped to properly diagnose it in a timely, efficient and cost-effective way."
"We want to prevent the health system from being unable to cope with newly-identified demands," she said.
"We want to the health system to cope with newly-identified demands of diagnosing and treating primary aldosteronism as cause of high blood pressure," she said
Among the institutions participating in the EQUIPPA project are Hudson Institute, Monash Health, Monash University, University of NSW, University of Queensland and University of Western Australia. The team encompasses endocrinologists, hypertension specialists, nephrologists, chemical pathologists, radiologists, health economists and Implementation scientists.
Funders | MRFF
