Gary Owens, MD, president of Gary Owens Associates, outlines the current epidemiological knowledge of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) tends to affect younger people as opposed to those in older age groups and females more than males, said Gary Owens, MD, president of Gary Owens Associates.
Transcript
What opportunities exist to improve the time from symptom onset to diagnosis of PAH?
We do know a little bit about the epidemiology of this disease. It tends to affect people in younger, rather than older, age groups. Again, we're talking about pulmonary arterial hypertension. It does tend to affect females more often than males and has a bit of a predilection for Caucasian females in particular.
So, [the] number one way to improve it is an index of suspicion for this disease. And so with presentation of first symptoms, a lot of the initial diagnostic tests should be done fairly quickly. Things like cardiac workups, pulmonary function testing, those sorts of things, and then rapidly, if that doesn't find a cause, move into things ruling out sleep apnea is another thing you need to do. Then getting into more advanced imaging.
But ultimately, one probably needs to make early referrals if you suspect this diagnosis, because really the diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension rests on demonstrating an elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure, which has to be done, in essence, by a right heart [catheterization], as well as an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance.
I guess what I'm saying it takes a high index of suspicion and awareness and a willingness to go through the initial diagnostic activities quickly and make referrals when appropriate. And that can probably be the best thing to improve outcomes.
Navigating Sport-Related Neurospine Injuries, Surgery, and Managed Care
February 25th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Arthur L. Jenkins III, MD, FACS, CEO of Jenkins NeuroSpine, to explore the intersection of advanced surgical care for sport-related neurospine injuries and managed care systems.
Listen
PAH Therapies Improve Outcomes in PH-ILD
March 26th 2025Pulmonary hypertension is a common consequence of interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD), with the highest rate seen among individuals who have idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Overall, most cases of PH in the setting of ILD are mild.
Read More
Lorundrostat Significantly Lowers Blood Pressure in Key Hypertension Trials
March 24th 2025New topline data from the Launch-HTN (NCT06153693) and Advance-HTN (NCT06153693) clinical trials show these investigations met their primary end points os statistically significant reductions in systolic blood pressure.
Read More