Key result
Pharmacist-integrated collaborative care lowers clinic SBP by ~7 mm Hg vs. usual care.
Why the study?
The magnitude and consistency of benefit of pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care for cardiometabolic control across CKM-relevant populations remained uncertain.
Does pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care reduce clinic systolic blood pressure and HbA1c in adult outpatients with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome risk factors?
Meta-Analysis
Does pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care reduce clinic systolic blood pressure and HbA1c in adult outpatients with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome risk factors?
Mean Difference: -7.11 (95% CI -9.65–-4.58)
Pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care provides clinically meaningful reductions in systolic blood pressure across cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic populations, supporting its use as a scalable risk-reduction strategy.
Pharmacist-integrated care may enhance CKM control; extends RCT evidence for collaborative outpatient models.
Background Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome requires integrated outpatient strategies that address interrelated hemodynamic and metabolic risk. Pharmacist-integrated collaborative care has emerged as a potential model to improve cardiometabolic control across CKM-relevant populations, but the magnitude and consistency of benefit remain uncertain. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials evaluating pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care versus usual care or control care in CKM-relevant populations. Twenty-one randomized trials were included, spanning hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and mixed CKM populations, predominantly in primary care settings. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed using restricted maximum likelihood estimation with Hartung-Knapp adjustment. Results The most robust finding was for clinic systolic blood pressure. Pooling adjusted estimates from 3 trials showed that pharmacist-integrated collaborative care significantly reduced clinic systolic blood pressure compared with usual care (MD − 7.11 mm Hg, 95% CI -9.65 to −4.58; I 2 = 0.0%). Continuous HbA1c also favored pharmacist-integrated care in 3 trials (MD -1.26, 95% CI -2.36 to −0.16), although heterogeneity was substantial (I 2 = 89.2%). This glycemic effect was less stable in sensitivity analysis excluding the high-risk Javaid 2019 trial, after which the pooled estimate attenuated to −0.81% (95% CI -2.11 to 0.49). Exploratory target-attainment analyses were directionally favorable but imprecise and were not considered definitive. Conclusion Pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care was associated with a clinically meaningful reduction in clinic systolic blood pressure and may improve HbA1c across CKM-relevant populations. The blood-pressure finding was consistent and robust, whereas the glycemic evidence was more heterogeneous and sensitive to study quality. These findings suggest that pharmacist-integrated collaborative care is a promising outpatient CKM risk-reduction strategy, particularly for hemodynamic control, while underscoring the need for more standardized, high-quality trials for metabolic outcomes. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD420261363411 , identifier CRD420261363411.
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Zhao et al. (2026) conducted a meta-analysis in Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome. Pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care vs. Usual care was evaluated on Clinic systolic blood pressure (MD -7.11, 95% CI -9.65 to -4.58). Pharmacist-integrated collaborative outpatient care significantly reduced clinic systolic blood pressure by a mean difference of 7.11 mm Hg compared with usual care.
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