title: Cost-effectiveness of educational interventions to improve patient outcomes in blood pressure control.
abstract: To examine the relative cost-effectiveness of single versus multiple patient education strategies to reduce hypertension, we assigned patients to seven intervention groups and to a usual-care control group using a randomized factorial design. We compared cost-effectiveness measures for single, double, and triple combinations of (a) a clinic exit interview with patients to clarify their medical regimens, (b) an educational meeting with a member of the patient's family to aid in management at home, and (c) a series of small group sessions to help patients overcome personal barriers to management. We observed consistent results for six different effectiveness measures under a variety of decision-making rules. Our results suggest that in the absence of targeting of multiple interventions to systematically selected high-risk patients, multiple intervention combinations are not more cost-effective than single interventions.
mesh_terms: D001835:Body Weight; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000191:economics*; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group; D011897:Random Allocation; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States