Role of Sympathetic Overactivity and Angiotensin II in PTSD and CV

• Status: Recruiting
• Trial end date: 2021-08-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The purpose of this study is to find out why patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have an increased risk for heart disease and high blood pressure later in life. A second purpose is to find out what causes PTSD patients to have high adrenaline levels during stress. This study will also test if a medicine called losartan improves high adrenaline levels in patients with PTSD and if a certain gene that has to do with high blood pressure might be associated with high adrenaline levels.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Emory University
• Collaborator: American Heart Association
• Treatments: Angiotensin II; Angiotensinogen; Atenolol; Losartan; Nitroprusside; Oxymetazoline; Phenylephrine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• veterans ages 18-65 years old with PTSD and without PTSD (controls) matched for age, gender, and race.

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnancy

• hypertension

• diabetes

• heart or vascular disease

• illicit drug use

• excessive alcohol use (>2 drinks per day)

• hyperlipidemia

• autonomic dysfunction

• current treatment with clonidine, beta blockers, angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs)

• treatment with monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors within the last 14 days

• any serious systemic disease

• chronic kidney disease defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) < 60 cc/min

• hyperkalemia (serum potassium > 5 meq/dL)

• systolic blood pressure < 100 mm Hg

• diastolic blood pressure < 60 mm Hg

• heart rate < 50 beats/min

• known hypersensitivity to ARBs or beta blockers