Grandma's House

Researchers across the country working together have found a treatment that significantly reduces heart failure deaths among African Americans.

Over the three years of the study, the death rate for patients on BiDil was 43 percent lower than among patients taking inactive placebo pills. The rate of hospitalization among patients on BiDil was 33 percent lower. And patients on BiDil reported greater improvements in their quality of life.

Many patients taking BiDil did experience side effects. About 47 percent had headaches, and 29 percent had dizziness, more than twice the numbers for those taking placebos.

All patients in the study received conventional heart-failure medications. But the study was double-blinded, meaning neither the patients nor the doctors knew who also received BiDil or placebos.

One of the participants in the study asked the question I'd like to know the answer to.

Ruby Dennis, 62, of Kansas City, was confident she was taking BiDil when she took part in the study last year. “I think I got the real thing. I had more energy when I was taking it,” she said. “It helped a lot.”

Dennis was curious about the racial aspect of the little red pills she was taking.
“How does the medicine know if you're black or white? Why is it good for us?” she asked. “The nurse told me it has to do with our genes.”