In Rural China, Fewer Adverse Cardiovascular Events Occurred After Barriers to Hypertension Care Were Removed

Uncontrolled hypertension is a major cause of disparate health outcomes in the U.S. Several recent trials, including some among underserved populations, have achieved improved short-term blood pressure (BP) control with team interventions involving remote BP monitoring, telehealth, protocol-driven medication management by nonphysicians (e.g., pharmacists), or combinations of these (e.g., NEJM JW Gen Med Jan 1 2023 and Hypertension 2022; 79:2708), but the longer-term effectiveness of team interventions in preventing adverse CV outcomes has not been studied.

Investigators in rural China randomized 163 villages (34,000 adults with uncontrolled hypertension) to a nonphysician-led intervention or usual care. In the intervention clusters, physicia…