Researchers across Yale School of Medicine (YSM), Duke University School of Medicine, Inova Medical Group, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente have been approved for a $7 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study coronary artery disease in older adults with multiple chronic conditions.
YSM’s Michael Nanna, MD, MHS, FSCAI, assistant professor of medicine (cardiovascular medicine) is the principal investigator on the randomized trial, “A TriaL ComparIng the EffectiVEness and ToleraBility of MEdicaTions in Older Adults with STablE Angina and Multiple ChRonic Conditions: LIVE BETTER”.
This study was selected through a PCORI funding announcement specifically focused on comparative clinical effectiveness research that aims to optimize the physical and mental functioning of community-dwelling older adults and their caregivers across the aging continuum.
Current treatment options for stable angina, or chest pain that arises during activity or stress, include both medications and invasive procedures, without any difference in rates of death or heart attacks across the different treatment approaches. Varying side effects may occur with the suggested medications and data are limited for current first-line treatments like beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers in adults older than 75 years of age with multiple chronic medical conditions. Therefore, the LIVE BETTER trial will compare the effectiveness of medications to improve the symptoms, function, and quality of life of older adults with multiple chronic conditions presenting with stable symptoms of coronary artery disease. The team will access the participants’ function, symptoms, and quality of life at 45 days, six months, and one year after starting treatment. They will also assess mobility at the 45-day mark.
Along with Nanna, other members of the YSM team include cardiologists Jeptha Curtis, MD and Eric J. Velazquez, MD; biostatistician Helen Parise, ScD; geriatrician Thomas Gill, MD; and Program on Aging research staff. Other collaborators include Duke’s William Schuyler Jones, MD; Inova’s Abdulla Damluji, MD, PhD; Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Ajar Kochar, MD, MHA; and Alan S. Go, MD; and Andrew P. Ambrosey, MD, at Kaiser Permanente.
This award has been approved pending completion of a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of a formal award contract.
PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed healthcare decisions.
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