Dermatology Division

Hypertension Research

Members of the Division of Endocrinology are actively involved in the research of resistant hypertension. Currently this area of research is being led by Drs. Greg Kline and Alex Leung.

Dr. Kline’s focus of research has been in primary Aldosteronism, investigating novel diagnostic testing, co-morbidities and therapeutic options.

Dr. Leung is interested in cardiometabolic disorders with a major focus in resistant hypertension.  His research is addressing the multifactorial reasons for uncontrolled hypertension (e.g., suboptimal medication regimens, patient non-adherence, and unidentified secondary causes of hypertension).

His research has been supported by numerous research awards including Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Alberta Innovates–Health Solutions, and Hypertension Canada). He is also a collaborator in an Alberta Innovates—Health Solutions Collaboration Team Grant that was awarded $4.7 million and was recently awarded the 2016 Hypertension Canada New Investigator Award. He is a member of the Central Review Committee and Guidelines Task Force for the Canadian Hypertension Education Program and the lead author for the 2016 Hypertension Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Current and future planned studies in endocrine hypertension (Drs. Leung and Kline):

  • Prospective, Outcomes-Supported Study of Novel Diagnostic Testing Protocols for Primary Aldosteronism
  • Multi-Centre Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence and Predictive Factors for Resistant Hypertension in Tertiary Care Clinics
  • Prospective Study on Primary Aldosteronism Prevalence in Sleep Apnea Patients
  • Population Approaches to Determining Co-Morbidities, Disease Burden and Outcomes Among Patients with Mineralocorticoid Hypertension (All Follow up Studies from Their Recent Publication: Leung AA, Orton DJ, Chin A, Sadrzadeh H, Kline GA. A Novel Approach to Establishing an Aldosterone: Renin Ratio Cutoff for Primary Aldosteronism. Hypertension. 2017 Jan 1:HYPERTENSIONAHA-116.)
  • Medical vs. Surgical therapy in Primary Aldosteronism; a Arospective, Multi-Centre Cross-Over Investigation.