OU's Dr. Elisa T. Lee has spent nearly two decades on understanding "Strong Hearts." Her participation in the Strong Heart Study, a 17-year epidemiology study of American Indians led the former OU College of Public Health dean and her team to write an extensive research proposal, leading to a $3.5 million grant for the study, according to a statement from OU Public Affairs.

The studies on heart disease in American Indian communities proved a direct correlation with people who have diabetes and the higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

"Once we wrote the proposal, we submitted it to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute," Lee said.

"They reviewed it and decided to give us the money to make the test treatments a reality."

The $3.5 million grant will enable researchers at the Health Sciences Center to test a new treatment aimed at preventing heart disease in American Indians with diabetes. The grant is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The Institute "provides leadership for a national program in diseases of the heart, blood vessels, lung and blood; blood resources; and sleep disorders," their mission statement stated.

NHLBI's grant will take form in the Stop Atherosclerosis in Native Diabetics Study. This is the first clinical trial in American Indians funded by the NHLBI. The study will compare a regiment of intensive LDL-cholesterol reduction and intensive blood pressure lowering with the standard treatment regimen for hypertension and high cholesterol.

"This study is trying to reduce heart disease among the people with diabetes in this population," Lee said.

In the past, American Indians had low cardiovascular disease rates. It is now the leading cause of death in the population, with the majority of cardiovascular disease cases in people with diabetes, according to the Strong Heart Study.

Researchers at OU will not begin the actual testing on American Indians until the recruitment of participants is complete.

"Next spring we will work with the Indian hospitals to find four separate groups of people to participate," Lee said.

"We must first identify who has diabetes and then set out exclusion criteria such as age. We would then invite them to participate in our study. All of this follows informational letters and community meetings."

Meetings will turn to testing in Lawton, Phoenix and Chinle, Arizona and the Rapid City and Pine Ridge, South Dakota areas. The clinical trials will benefit the American Indians through intensive treatments that will hopefully "slow down heart disease," Lee said.

"We have been working with Indian communities for a number of years, a lot of data about heart disease has been collected and what we have found, we designed into this study."
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