A collaborative between UNC-Chapel Hill and the Orange County Health Department has launched a study that will focus on pregnant Black and Native American moms battling high blood pressure.
The "Thriving Heart’s study" is being funded by a $21 million award from nonprofit research organization Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in Washington, D.C.
UNC School of Medicine Maternal Fetal Medicine professor Alison Stuebe, one of the leads on the project, said it’s broken up into three levels.
“Mama Hearts is the [first] individual level intervention,” Stuebe said. “And that is going to be each health department working with the practices in their community, to see which folks are at high risk of developing hypertension problems and make sure that those moms get a blood pressure monitor that they can ideally walk out of the office with.”
The second level includes offering mental healing services to the health workers providing the services. Stuebe said the last level is proactive support for patients needing prenatal care.
According to the American Heart Association, Black women of childbearing age, for example, were more than twice as likely to have uncontrolled blood pressure than white women of the same age.
“So, the goal is to reduce the number of folks who end up with high blood pressure issues during pregnancy, and improve their overall well-being in health,” said Stuebe.
The Thriving Heart Study will roll out over five years to 10 counties across the state, including Chatham, Cumberland, Durham and Orange.
