NCT03109795 — drugset

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a short-term (4 weeks) pharmacological blockade of sympathetic nerve activity (clonidine) on anxiety symptoms, vascular function, inflammation, muscle sympathetic nerve activity, and oxidant stress in individuals with moderate-to-high anxiety. Individuals who are interested in the study will be identified by an online screening survey and will be contacted by the research team; advertisements, flyers and mass emails will direct individuals to the online screening survey. Those deemed eligible to participate will be randomized to either the clonidine intervention or hydrochlorothiazide as a blood-pressure lowering control condition. If eligible participants are currently being treated with blood pressure-lowering medications, they will be asked to go off these medications for 2 weeks prior to and during the course of the study. During the 2 week washout of blood pressure-lowering medications, participants will have safety visits (2 additional visits) that include measurements of blood pressure at 4 days and 7 days after the beginning of the washout period before the intervention. Assessments of anxiety symptoms via various surveys, vascular function (via non-invasive, well-established techniques), inflammation, muscle sympathetic nerve activity, and oxidant stress will be performed at baseline and at the post intervention session. Similar baseline measurements will be performed in control subjects with low or no anxiety for comparison, but these individuals will not undergo the intervention. Participants with moderate-to-high anxiety will have a total of 6 visits to the laboratory, which includes the screening and consent (visit 1). Visit 2 (baseline measurements) and visit 6 (post-intervention measurements) will be more extensive (\~4.5 hours) compared to the other visits (\~30 min). Participants completing the washout will have an additional 2 visits (\~30 min each) before "visit 2." Control subjects with low or no anxiety will only participate in visit 1 (screening and consent ) and visit 2 (baseline measurements).

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Clonidine	Other / unclassified	—	—
Comparator	Hydrochlorothiazide	Unknown	—	—

Evaluation

Drug

Modality

Dose

Route

Subject

Clonidine

Other / unclassified

—

Comparator

Hydrochlorothiazide

Unknown

—

Anxiety-mediated Impairments in Large Elastic Artery Function and the Autonomic Nervous System

Summary

Timeline

Publications

Drugs

Indications