A landmark heart disease study at UT Southwestern, which will continue for at least five more months, has identified a large number of study participants who have undiagnosed high blood pressure or diabetes. The Dallas Heart Disease Prevention Project, which started July 1, 2000, has interviewed more than 4,000 Dallas County participants out of the 6,000 that will be needed.

Of those, 1,186 participants were diagnosed with hypertension, or high blood pressure, 417 of whom were unaware of their conditions. Elevated glucose levels indicating diabetes were found in 73 participants.

"It is essential to make people aware of these conditions, which are risk factors of cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Ronald Victor, scientific director of the project and chief of hypertension at UT Southwestern. "This is the whole spirit behind this project. If it helps just one person, it's worth it. So far it's helped hundreds," Dr. Victor said.

The project is the first heart-disease prevention survey of a multiethnic population in a single metropolitan area. Its objective is to reduce death and disability from coronary heart disease among Dallas County residents, who are affected by the disease at a higher rate than the national average. Confidential in-house interviews of area residents will be conducted through April 2002, and blood tests and other clinical tests will continue throughout the summer of 2002. Researchers will analyze the collected data to uncover new, treatable causes of heart disease and identify the barriers to awareness and treatment of heart disease in the various ethnic populations of Dallas.

Hypertension, which affects 50 million Americans, is often referred to as the silent killer because its symptoms are often unnoticeable until complications occur. Diabetes affects more than 16 million Americans and was recently deemed an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease by the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, of which Dr. Scott Grundy, director of the Center for Human Nutrition, was the chairman.

"High blood pressure and elevated blood glucose levels have a long asymptomatic phase in which the risk factors are producing damage to the cardiovascular system and setting that stage for a heart attack, stroke or kidney failure without making the person feel bad," Dr. Victor said. "By the time things have gotten so bad and individuals are actually having symptoms of heart disease, the condition may have already reached the critical stage."

In 1999 UT Southwestern received a $24 million national competitive grant for cardiovascular research from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. The grant established the Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center. The Dallas Heart Disease Prevention Project is its centerpiece and will unite basic research with patient care.

For more information about the Dallas Heart Disease Prevention Project, call 214-648-4555, or log onto the World Wide Web at http://cardiology.swmed.edu/heartbeat/