Effects of pharmaceutical care interventions on humanistic outcomes in hypertensive people living with HIV: results of a randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of pharmaceutical care (PC) interventions on humanistic outcomes in HIV-positive patients with hypertension. METHODS: This prospective, open-label, parallel randomized controlled trial was conducted in the HIV clinic of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, from August 2018 to October 2019. Eligible patients were randomized sequentially and equally into two study arms: the control arm (CA), where participants received the traditional care and the intervention arm (IA), where participants received PC by the research pharmacist. The patient's HIV knowledge questionnaire, the Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale, the Medical Outcome Study-HIV Health Survey and the Patient Satisfaction with Pharmaceutical Service questionnaire were used to assess participants' HIV-related knowledge, hypertension-related knowledge, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and satisfaction with PC, respectively. These were self-completed at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Data were analysed using SPSS (IBM version 25.0). KEY FINDINGS: Out of the 206 participants randomized, 182 completed the 12-month follow-up. After 12 months, there was a significant improvement in HIV-related knowledge (∆ = 11.28%, t(180) = 4.41, P < 0.001) and hypertension-related knowledge (∆ = 5.94%, t(180) = 3.25, P = 0.001) in the IA over and above those observed in the CA. Similarly, PC interventions led to significant improvements in HRQoL (∆ = 6.5%, t(180) = 5.50, P < 0.001) and satisfaction with PC in the IA (∆ = 18.12%, t(180) = 11.85, P < 0.001) at the end of the study. CONCLUSIONS: PC significantly improved humanistic outcomes in HIV-positive patients with hypertension after a 12-month intervention.