Menzies' researcher Professor Mark Nelson has been awarded national health funding, through the General Practice Clinical Research Program (GPCRP) to research a new approach to help GP's deal with assessing patients' risk of heart attack or stroke.

Menzies' researcher Professor Mark Nelson has been awarded national health funding, through the General Practice Clinical Research Program (GPCRP) to research a new approach to help GP's deal with assessing patients' risk of heart attack or stroke.

The research project, receiving a $192,000 boost from the funding, is one of only nine research proposals to recently receive GPCRP funding, across Australia.

Hypertension is the commonest problem managed in general practice.

Professor Nelson says that of all cardiovascular conditions, hypertension is the most frequently reported condition in Tasmania. Hypertension is more prevalent among older age groups with 50.1 per cent of the 65 plus age group reporting hypertension in Tasmania.

"Estimating the risk of having a heart attack or stroke over the next five years is the best way to target people most likely to benefit from lifestyle change or drug therapy," Professor Nelson said.

At the moment, 90 per cent of adult Australians have at least one cardio vascular risk factors and 25 per cent have three or more. As some are linked with age, the numbers are expected to swell with the ageing of the population.

Professor Nelson says that the primary objective of his research proposal is to develop one or more equations, based on The Second Australian National Blood Pressure study (ANBP2) data suitable for risk prediction in the elderly, hypertensive Australian population.

"The end result will be a more appropriate risk assessment for an older, contemporary population in Australia," Professor Nelson said.

Director of the Menzies Research Institute, Professor Simon Foote commented that Professor Nelson has developed a well-deserved reputation as a leader in tackling some of today's most pressing primary health care issues that concern a large proportion of the Tasmanian population and Australia-wide.

"The success of Professor Nelson's proposal will in turn lead to improved health outcomes for the Tasmanian community," Professor Simon Foote said.

Researchers commenced case contacting for the project, Absolute risk prediction of subsequent cardiovascular events in a large cohort of elderly Australians with hypertension, earlier this year, in the hope that outcomes will be delivered into the rooms of GP's throughout Australia within 2010 years.

The General Practice Clinical Research Program (GPCRP) funding is allocated by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). NHMRC has allocated almost $4.3 million over three years for research into priority areas of primary health care.

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