Combining monthly health education workshops with home visits significantly reduced systolic blood pressure by 13 mmHg and improved dietary and anthropometric parameters in hypertensive women.
RCT (n=28)
non-blinded
randomized (by lots)
No
Does combining monthly health education workshops with family orientation through home visits improve adherence to dietary changes and clinical parameters in women with hypertension compared to workshops alone?
Adding family orientation through home visits to health education workshops significantly improves dietary adherence, blood pressure, and metabolic parameters in women with hypertension.
Absolute Event Rate: -13.2% vs -1.9%
p-value: p=0.004
BACKGROUND: Poor adherence to non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension represents a serious challenge for public health policies in several countries. This study was conducted to compare two intervention strategies regarding the adherence of adult women to dietary changes recommended for the treatment of hypertension in a community covered by Primary Health Care Unit. METHODS: This study is a randomized controlled trial of a sample composed of 28 women with hypertension enrolled in the Primary Health Care Unit located in the urban area of southeastern Brazil. The participants were already undergoing treatment for hypertension but devoid of nutritional care; and were divided into two groups, each composed of 14 individuals, who received interventions that consisted of two different strategies of nutritional guidance: monthly health education workshops alone (Group 1) and combined with family orientation through home visits (Group 2). Adherence to nutritional guidelines was evaluated by dietary, anthropometric, clinical and serum biochemical parameters, measured before and after the interventions. Knowledge on control and risk of hypertension was also investigated. The study lasted five months. RESULTS: Mean age was 55.6 (± 2.8) and 50.7 (± 6.5) in the groups 1 and 2, respectively. The home orientation strategy promoted greater adherence to dietary changes, leading to a statistically significant improvement in the clinical, anthropometric, biochemical and dietary parameters. The group 2 reduced the consumption of risk foods (p = 0.01), oil (p = 0.002) and sugar (p = 0.02), and decreased body mass index (-0.7 kg/m2; p = 0.01); waist circumference (-4.2 cm; p = 0.001), systolic blood pressure (-13 mm HG; p = 0.004) and glycemia (-18.9 mg/dl; p = 0. 01). In group 1 only waist circumference (-2 cm; p = 0.01) changed significantly. CONCLUSION: Nutritional orientations at the household level were more effective with regard to the adherence of individuals to non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension, regarding the reduction of clinical and behavioral risk parameters.
Ribeiro et al. (Wed,) conducted a rct in hypertension (n=28). Health education workshops combined with home visits vs. Health education workshops alone was evaluated on Change in systolic blood pressure (mmHg) (p=0.004). Combining monthly health education workshops with home visits significantly reduced systolic blood pressure by 13 mmHg and improved dietary and anthropometric parameters in hypertensive women.