BACKGROUND:

Hypertension (HT) is an orchestrator of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in people living with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Control of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and HT as a whole is suboptimal in diabetes, partly due to the scarcity of doctors. While nurse-led interventions are pragmatic and cost-effective in the control of HT in primary health care, their effectiveness on SBP control among patients with T2D in Uganda is scantly known.

AIM:

We evaluated the effectiveness of a nurse-led management intervention on SBP among T2D patients with a high ASCVD risk in Uganda.

METHODS:

A two-armed cluster randomized controlled trial compared the nurse-led management intervention with usual doctor-led care. The intervention involved training nurses to provide structured health education, protocol-based HT/CVD management, 24-h phone calls, and 2-monthly text messages for 6 months. The primary outcome was the mean difference in SBP change among patients with T2D with a high ASCVD risk in the intervention and control groups after 6 months. The secondary outcome was the absolute difference in the number of patients at target for SBP, total cholesterol (TC), fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides (TG), and body mass index (BMI) after the intervention. The study was analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess intra-cluster effect modifiers. Statistical significance was set at 0.05 for all analyses.

RESULTS:

Eight clinics (n = 388 patients) were included (intervention 4 clinics; n = 192; control 4 clinics; n = 196). A nurse-led intervention reduced SBP by -11.21 ± 16.02 mmHg with a mean difference between the groups of -13.75 mmHg (95% CI -16.48 to -11.02, p < 0.001). An increase in SBP of 2.54 ± 10.95 mmHg was observed in the control group. Diastolic blood pressure was reduced by -6.80 ± 9.48 mmHg with a mean difference between groups of -7.20 mmHg (95% C1 -8.87 to -5.48, p < 0.001). The mean differences in the change in ASCVD score and glycated hemoglobin were -4.73% (95% CI -5.95 to -3.51, p = 0.006) and -0.82% (95% CI -1.30 to -0.35, p = 0.001), respectively. There were significant absolute differences in the number of patients at target in SBP (p = 0.001), DBP (p = 0.003), and TC (p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION:

A nurse-led management intervention reduces SBP and ASCVD risk among patients with T2D. Such an intervention may be pragmatic in the screening and management of HT/ASCVD in Uganda. TRIAL REGISTRATION Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, PACTR202001916873358, registered on 6th October 2019.