A randomised trial of the effects of cholesterol lowering therapy among patients with chronic renal impairment

Funding Activity

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Funded Activity Summary

People with kidney disease are well known to be at high risk of developing major health problems earlier in life than people without kidney problems. In particular, people with kidney disease are more likely to suffer from heart attacks and strokes. For a number of other high-risk patient groups (such as people with heart disease), studies have clearly shown that cholesterol-lowering treatment can significantly reduce the risks of serious complications. However, until now, patients with kidney disease have generally been excluded from such studies because of concerns about drug side effects. New, better-tolerated cholesterol lowering drugs now offer an opportunity to see if this highly effective treatment is also protective among people with kidney disease. The HARP (Heart And Renal Protection) trial is a large new study that will be done as a collaboration between Australian researchers and researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK. The aim of the study is to see if low doses of two cholesterol-lowering drugs can reduce the risks of stroke and heart attack. The study will include about 9,000 people with chronic kidney disease followed for an average of 4 years. It is hoped that by using low doses of two treatments, rather than a high dose of one, it will be possible to get substantial benefits without side effects. There are presently many tens of thousands of individual in Australia with chronic kidney disease and many millions of such individuals worldwide. The results of the HARP study will therefore influence the care of a very large number of people. If the results were positive, implementation of this new treatment would be expected to prevent many tens of thousands of premature strokes and heart attacks around the world each year.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $333,250.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Nephrology And Urology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Cardiovascular disease | Cardiovascular diseases | Cholesterol | Cholesterol lowering | Public Health | Randomised trials | Renal disease | Renal diseases