Cardiovascular Intervention Improvement Telemedicine Study

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Hypertension
Cardiovascular Disease
Hyperlipidemia
Diabetes

Interventions: Behavioral: Pharmacist CVD

Registration Number: NCT01142908

Lead Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development

Brief Summary: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States; more than 80% of veterans have \> 2 risk factors for CVD. Our study is one of the first to examine the implementation of a tailored behavioral/educational self-management intervention in primary care clinics designed to improve CVD risk. The proposed study could result in a leap forward in CVD risk management among veterans for several reasons: 1) ) This is a novel extension of our previous interventions that have demonstrated improved BP, now designed to address multiple chronic conditions contributing to CVD risk, particularly hyperlipidemia and diabetes. The study focuses on both multiple CVD-related risk factor management and medication management 2) The intervention is multi-behavioral; it addresses patients' various health behavior (e.g., smoking, diet, and medication adherence). 3) Components of the intervention will include specific recommendations and transportability of intervention application software and tracking packages that will allow clinic managers to implement the intervention if it is effective.

Detailed Description: Anticipated Impacts on Veteran's Healthcare: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S.; more than 80% of veterans have \> 2 risk factors for CVD. An intervention that addresses multiple CVD risk factors among high-risk veterans has the greatest potential to improve morbidity and mortality.

Project Background/Rationale: The proposed study will take place in two VA primary care clinics (1-Community-Based Outpatient Clinics and 1-primary care clinic affiliated with a hospital). We will improve CVD risk among veterans by addressing the modifiable risk factors of systolic blood pressure (SBP), smoking, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The intervention will be tailored to the needs of vulnerable high risk patients (e.g. African Americans, low literate) and integrated into clinics, thereby enhancing the potential for benefit and generalizability to other settings.

The proposed study could significantly improve CVD risk management among veterans for several reasons: 1) This intervention is a novel extension of our previous efficacious interventions, but provides a novel extension to address multiple chronic conditions contributing to CVD risk. 2) The intervention focuses on both multiple CVD-related behaviors and medication management. 3) The intervention was developed to ensure implementation across a large and representative sample of veterans; and; 4) The intervention, if found efficacious and financially self-sustaining, could be widely implemented within the VA healthcare system.

Project Objectives: The proposed study will examine two research questions:

1. Can patients randomized to a clinical pharmacist-administered telephone behavioral/ medication management intervention tailored to their needs improve CVD outcomes relative to a control group over 12 months? Primary Hypothesis: (H1) Veterans who receive the behavioral/medication intervention will have greater improvement of their CVD Risk Profile over the 12 months of follow-up as compared to the control group.

Secondary Hypotheses: (H2) Veterans who receive the intervention will have improved medication adherence, physical activity, improved diet, lower body mass index as compared to the control group over 12 months of follow-up. (H3) Veterans who receive the intervention will have greater improvements in LDL over the 12 months of follow-up as compared to the control group. (H4) Veterans with diabetes who receive the intervention will have greater improved HbA1c as compared to the control group over 12 months of follow-up.

2. If the intervention is found to be effective, is it cost effective? Project Methods: To address these hypotheses, we propose a two-arm randomized clinical trial design in which 500 patients with cardiovascular disease will be randomized to either the education control group or the intervention group. Patients randomized to the intervention group will receive a clinical pharmacist-administered intervention, which focuses on behavioral and a medication management. The intervention will occur over 12 months. Patients randomized to the control group will receive educational material about CVD reduction. Given the national prevalence of CVD and the dismal rates of risk factor control, intensive, but easily disseminated interventions such as the one proposed could significantly improve treatment of this epidemic in the VA.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 428

Inclusion Criteria

Enrolled in one of three Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DVAMC) Primary Care Clinics affiliated with the hospital or the Raleigh Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) for at least one year;
At least one visit to a primary care physician (PCP) at the Raleigh CBOC or Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) associated primary care clinics in the previous 12 months;
Outpatient diagnostic code for hypertension and/or hypercholesterolemia and lab values indicating either poorly controlled BP levels (>150/90 Hg) AND/OR LDL (>130mg/dl) in the previous year.

Exclusion Criteria

diagnosed with metastatic cancer,
diagnosed with dementia,
active diagnosis of psychosis,
treated with dialysis,
most recent creatinine lab level >2.5 or no creatinine lab value within past year
hospitalized for a stroke, heart attack, or had surgery for blocked arteries in the past 3 months,
participating in another interventional trial,
not currently receiving care at the Durham VAMC or the Raleigh CBOC
resident of a nursing home,
hard time seeing type/printing on books, magazines articles, etc.
hard time hearing on the telephone
limited/no access to telephone
plans to move medical care from DVAMC or Raleigh CBOC in next 12 months
CVD care is currently being managed by a clinical pharmacist
HbA1C value in the last 90day > 10% and patient is currently not on an insulin regimen.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Arm 1	Pharmacist CVD	The pharmacist CVD intervention group - clinical pharmacist-administered intervention which focuses on behavioral and medication management for 12 months.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Framingham Risk Percent (Estimate of 10 Year Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Percent)	12 months	Components of the Framingham include gender, age fixed at baseline, systolic blood pressure (presence/absence of blood pressure medications at each time point \[combination of administrative med data pull and self-report at assessment\]), total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, smoking status (assessed via self-report at each study survey), and diabetes (diabetes is a combination of self-report and CPRS data review). "New cases" of diabetes are allowed to be updated at 6 and 12 months f/u.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
HBA1C in Diabetic Patients	12 months	Lab values collected at interview visit by lab personnel
Mean Systolic Blood Pressure	12 months	Mean BP is calculated as the average of 3 bp measurements. Collected during BP outcome measurement conducted at interviews
Medication Non-adherence	12 months	First 4 items of the 5 item Morisky Self-reported measure of medication adherence was used to determine medication non-adherence.
Mean Diastolic Blood Pressure	12 months	Mean BP is calculated as the average of 3 bp measurements. Collected during BP outcome measurement conducted at interviews
Cholesterol LDL	12 months	Collected during interview visit by lab personnel
Body Mass Index	12 months	Calculated from vitals (height \& weight) obtained during interview