The Coordinating Center will optimize scientific advancement from the ALLHAT study by using 1) the administrative, data, and analytical resources to support continued manuscript preparation and development of ancillary studies and 2) the ALLHAT governance structure to provide overall scientific leadership. The Coordinating Center will foster scientific contributions based on extensive ALLHAT resources and will expand collaborations with relevant clinical and scientific communities outside of ALLHAT, including development of and collaboration with investigators from academic institutions not recently involved in ALLHAT manuscripts or ancillary studies. Collaborations include scientists with interest in clinical trials, pharmacogenetics, biomarkers, epidemiology, and clinical practice as these interests relate to hypertension and lipid-lowering treatments. This contract will preserve key study resources, continue the passive follow-up of the ALLHAT cohort, expand access to the ALLHAT datasets, and assure open, efficient, and active use of the ALLHAT data by the entire scientific community. ALLHAT participants have been followed since the end of the trial in 2002 through national administrative data bases, including the National Death Index (NDI), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), United States Renal Data System (USRDS), and Social Security Administration (SSA). The contract renewal will extend the passive follow up for an additional five years through 2016.
