title: Pharmacist intervention in improving hypertension-related knowledge, treatment medication adherence and health-related quality of life: a non-clinical randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study evaluated whether a pharmaceutical care intervention can result in better understanding about hypertension, increase medication adherence to antihypertensive therapy and improve overall health-related quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  A non-clinical randomized control trial was conducted whereby participants received an educational intervention through hospital pharmacists. Hypertension knowledge, medication adherence and health-related quality of life were measured by means of self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the demographic and disease characteristics of the patients. Inferential statistics were used for inter- and intragroup comparisons. SPSS 17 was used for data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred and eighty-five hypertensive patients were randomly assigned (192 in the control group and 193 in the intervention group) to the study. No significant differences were observed in either group for age, gender, income, locality, education, occupation or duration of disease. There was, however, a significant increase in the participants' levels of knowledge about hypertension and medication adherence among the interventional group after completing the intervention. Significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels were also observed among the interventional group after completion of the intervention. The interventional group, however, reported decreased yet significant health-related quality of life at the end of the interventional programme.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pharmacist intervention can significantly increase disease-related knowledge, blood pressure control and medication adherence in patients with hypertension. However, further research is needed to address the decreased health-related quality of life after completion of the study.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Fahad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohamed A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hassali
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Asrul A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Shafie
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Noman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ul Haq
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farooqui
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Hisham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aljadhay
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Physiology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Fiaz Ud Din
authors.initials: FU
authors.lastname: Ahmad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D010595:Pharmacists; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HRQoL; adherence; hospital pharmacist; hypertension; intervention; randomized controlled trial