Professor Juan José Beunza, awarded by the Sociedad Española de Cardiología (Spanish Society of Cardiology)
Its work is part of the project Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN), in which 21,300 university graduates participate.
The Spanish Society of Cardiology has awarded Professor Juan José Beunza from Navarra for the best article in arterial hypertension 2011. The work was carried out within the project Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) in partnership with the Universities of Harvard and Minnesota (USA).
Specifically, the study recognized by this society -one of the most prestigious in Spain in the field of cardiology- was forged during Dr. Beunza's postdoctoral stay at Harvard University, thanks to a scholarship grant from the La Caixa Foundation.
There, the specialist evaluated the influence of the habitual consumption of aspirin and other analgesics (drugs that soothe or eliminate pain) on the development of arterial hypertension. The conclusion, after following 9,986 Spanish university graduates for four years, was that "the frequent use of aspirin -two or more days per week- increased the risk of suffering this ailment 1.45 times. In the case of other analgesics, the increase was 1.69 times", explains Juan José Beunza.
"Physicians already know that analgesics can cause hypertension in patients with renal failure. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that it adds evidence on the association between the habitual intake of analgesics and the manifestation of arterial hypertension in healthy subjects," he explains.
SUN: 12 years and 21,300 participants
The project Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) began in 1999 and already has more than 21,000 participants, which is increasing with the annual inclusion of new volunteers.
According to its director, Dr. Miguel Ángel Martínez-González, "this cohort has a dynamic character, as the entrance of new participants is permanently open. And although it was initiated by the department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra, it currently collaborates with other centers, such as the universities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Jaén, Cantabria, Zaragoza, Málaga, Santiago de Compostela and the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya.
In this regard, the director of project stresses that the study "is only possible thanks to the invaluable partnership of the participants, which allows research into the causes of obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, depression, trauma, or infertility, among other problems that affect public health".
The award al work of Dr. Beunza, endowed with 3,000 euros, will be awarded on October 22 during the Closing Dinner of congress of Cardiovascular Diseases, together with other awards granted by the publication.
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