Effectiveness of a pharmacist-led educational intervention on health outcomes in hypertension management at community pharmacies in Nigeria: A two-arm parallel single-blind randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Aims: This study determined the impact of a pharmacist-led educational intervention on the health outcomes of hypertensive patients in community pharmacies. Methods: A 2-arm parallel single-blind randomized trial design was adopted among hypertensive patients in 4 pharmacies in Abuja and Lokoja, Nigeria. A pharmacist-led educational intervention was provided to the patients in the intervention group. The study outcomes, namely changes in adherence to medication, quality of life and cost of medication were measured using MARS-10, SF-12 and official price list, respectively. Independent and paired-sample t-tests were conducted on the data. Results: A total of 128 patients participated in the study. All of them completed the study and were included in the analysis: 70 in the control arm and 58 in the intervention arm. There was a significant improvement in components of Behaviour (2.57 vs. 2.98), Attitude (2.59 vs. 3.14) and Negative attitude (1.62 vs. 1.92). There was a better improvement in adherence in the intervention arm: 8.05 ± 1.32 vs. 6.55 ± 2.24; t = −4.65, P =.0001. There were no changes in the respondents' health status after intervention in both groups (P