Team-Based Intervention Strategy Worked to Reduce Systolic Blood Pressure in Trial Participants

A clinical trial funded by NIH found that a “scalable, team-based intervention strategy in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) was able to significantly reduce systolic blood pressure for low-income participants."

Hypertension is a major preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease; “only 1 in 4 adults with high blood pressure has their blood pressure under control.” Lower income Americans experience “high prevalence of hypertension and low control rates.”

The study in question took place at 36 HRSA-funded or -designated FQHCs in Louisiana and Mississippi and enrolled more than 1,270 participants aged 40 or older. Compared with “enhanced usual care, which included physician education on hypertension guidelines, the team-based approach reduced systolic blood pressure by more than 15 mm Hg versus about 9 mm Hg. Prior research suggests this difference could lead to a 10% reduction in cardiovascular events.”

Check-ins at 18 months also showed that this approach lowered average systolic blood pressure in participants by a larger margin than usual care. The model also “reduced provider burden, while home monitoring and health coaching supported patient self-management and treatment adherence. Researchers conclude these strategies can scale to other primary care settings and improve hypertension control in similarly underserved populations."