title: Pharmacist care and the management of coronary heart disease: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Secondary prevention is important for reducing both mortality and morbidity of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Pharmacists can provide medication and also work on disease management for patients with CHD. This review has been carried out to evaluate the role of pharmacist care on mortality, morbidity, and the CHD management.
  
  
  METHODS
  The PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the impact of pharmacist care interventions on patients with CHD (in both community and hospital settings). Primary outcomes of interest were mortality, cardiovascular events and hospitalizations. Secondary outcomes were medication adherence, blood pressure control, and lipid management.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five RCTs (2568 patients) were identified. The outcomes were mortality, cardiovascular events, and hospitalizations in one study (421 patients), medication adherence in five studies, blood pressure in two studies (1914 patients), and lipid management in three studies (932 patients). The interventions of pharmacists included patient education, medication management, feedback to health care professionals, and disease management. There was no significant effect of pharmacist care on mortality, recurrent cardiac events or hospitalization of CHD patients. Significant positive effects of pharmacist care were shown on medication adherence in three studies, on blood pressure control in one study and on lipid management in one study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, we concluded that pharmacists have a beneficial role in the care of CHD patients, although the evidence supporting positive impacts on mortality and morbidity remains uncertain due to the unavailability of data in these areas. Further research is needed to discern the contribution of pharmacist care on hard endpoints of CHD.
authors.forename: Hongwen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Yangmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China. xuhuiminze@126.com.
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D055118:Medication Adherence; D010595:Pharmacists; D024382:Professional Role; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D002316:Cardiotonic Agents