Key result
Pharmacist-led telehealth improves cardiovascular risk factors and medication adherence at 12 months versus usual care.
Why the study?
Despite effective lifestyle changes and therapeutics, access to primary care and treatments to improve cardiovascular risk factors remains challenging, with pharmacists and telehealth proposed to address these barriers.
Do pharmacist-led telehealth services improve cardiovascular risk factors and adherence in patients with cardiovascular risk factors?
Do pharmacist-led telehealth services improve cardiovascular risk factors and adherence in patients with cardiovascular risk factors?
Pharmacist-led telehealth services can effectively improve cardiovascular risk factors and medication adherence in primary care.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Supports integration of pharmacist-led telehealth into primary care; confirms benefits and extends evidence for remote cardiovascular management.
Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally. Despite the effectiveness of lifestyle changes and recommended therapeutics, access to primary care and treatments to improve cardiovascular risk-factors (CRFs) remains challenging. Pharmacists and telehealth services have been proposed as potential solutions to overcome these barriers. Methods: PubMed, OVID, and CINAHL databases were searched from January 2006 to March 2023. The primary outcomes were changes from baseline in systolic/diastolic blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin (A1c), cholesterol levels, and adherence to any patient counseling. Only studies conducted in the United States and Canada were included in the review. Results: Of 110 screened bibliographic records, 14 studies were included in the review. The pharmacist-led telehealth interventions included medication therapy management, medication reviews, and counseling on lifestyle changes. Nine studies reported significant improvements with intervention, 7 studies on CRFs and 2 studies on medication adherence at the 12-month follow-up, when pharmacist-led telehealth services were compared to usual care or historical data (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This scoping review provides evidence for continued support to the development and implementation of pharmacist-led telehealth services in primary cardiovascular care. The findings suggest that pharmacist-led telehealth interventions can improve cardiovascular outcomes and adherence to drug and non-drug therapy among patients with CRFs. However, because of lack of published randomized clinical studies on patients with CRFs residing in underserved communities, future directions in research should focus on exploring the implementation of pharmacist-led telehealth services in rural or underserved communities, utilizing various payment models to enhance accessibility and feasibility.
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Okere et al. (2023) conducted a review in Cardiovascular risk factors. Pharmacist-led telehealth services vs. Usual care or historical data was evaluated on Changes from baseline in systolic/diastolic blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin (A1c), cholesterol levels, and adherence to any patient counseling (p=<0.05). Pharmacist-led telehealth services significantly improved cardiovascular risk factors and medication adherence at 12 months compared to usual care or historical data (p < 0.05).
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