Abstract
In Sub Saharan Africa, there is a growing burden of non-communicable diseases, which poses a big challenge to the weak health system in these resource-limited settings. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a community health workers (CHW) home-based lifestyle interventions to improve blood pressure (BP) control and body composition among hypertensive patients in low-income populations of Kiambu County, Kenya. This was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 80 patients with uncontrolled high BP (systolic BP (SBP) ≥140mmHg and/or diastolic BP (DBP) ≥90) randomized to either a CHW homebased intervention or a usual care (control) arm and followed up for 6 months. The intervention involved monthly CHW home-visits for health education and audits on behavioral risk factors that affect BP. An adapted WHO stepwise questionnaire and international physical activity questionnaire was used to collect data on behavioral cardiovascular risk factors. To assess the main outcomes of BP, body mass index (BMI) and waist-height-ratio (WHtR), a survey was conducted at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Data regarding univariate, bivariate and multivariate (repeated measurements between and within groups) analysis at 5% level of significance were analyzed using STATA 18. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) for repeated measures were used to estimate changes in BP, BMI and WHtR, and to examine the association between the CHW intervention and BP control. The study revealed that 77.5% and 92.5% of the participants in usual care and intervention groups completed the follow-up, respectively. After 6 months of follow-up, there was a reduction in the mean SBP and DBP for both arms, and reductions in BMI and WHtR only in the intervention arm. The adjusted mean reduction in SBP (-8.4 mm Hg; 95% CI, -13.4 to -3.3; P=0.001) and DBP (-5.2 mm Hg 95% CI, -8.3 to -2.0; P<0.001) were significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group. The proportion of participants who achieved the controlled BP target of <140/90 mm Hg was 62.2% and 25.8% for the intervention and usual care arm, respectively. The proportion with controlled BP was significantly higher in the intervention arm compared to the usual care arm after adjusting for baseline covariates (AOR 2.8, 95% CI 1.3-6.0, p=0.008). There was no significant effect of the intervention on BMI and WHtR. In conclusion, a home-based CHW intervention was significantly associated with reduction in BP among hypertensive patients compared to usual care. Future fully powered RCTs to test the effectiveness of such interventions among low-income populations are recommended.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Clinical Trial
Pan African Clinical Trial Registry database, registration number: PACTR202309530525257 https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=25836
Funding Statement
This research was supported by the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). CARTA is jointly led by the African Population and Health Research Center and the University of the Witwatersrand and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Grant No. G-19-57145), Sida (Grant No:54100113), Uppsala Monitoring Center, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), and by the Wellcome Trust [reference no. 107768/Z/15/Z] and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, with support from the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) programme. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors.
Author Declarations
I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
The study was approved by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Institutional scientific and ethical review committee (approval number JKU/IERC/02316/0652). Similarly, research permit was obtained from the National Commission of Science, Technology, and Innovation before commencement of the study (license number NACOSTI/P/22/19977). Confidentiality and anonymity of patients was guaranteed by excluding unique identifiers from the data collected from participants. Participation in the study was on voluntary basis and written informed consent was obtained from the participants before data collection.
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Data Availability
All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.