Comparative Effectiveness of Implementation Strategies for Blood Pressure Control in Hypertensive Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: The prevalence of hypertension is high and is increasing worldwide, whereas the proportion of controlled hypertension is low.

Purpose: To assess the comparative effectiveness of 8 implementation strategies for blood pressure (BP) control in adults with hypertension.

Data Sources: Systematic searches of MEDLINE and Embase from inception to September 2017 with no language restrictions, supplemented with manual reference searches.

Study Selection: Randomized controlled trials lasting at least 6 months comparing the effect of implementation strategies versus usual care on BP reduction in adults with hypertension.

Data Extraction: Two investigators independently extracted data and assessed study quality.

Data Synthesis: A total of 121 comparisons from 100 articles with 55 920 hypertensive patients were included. Multilevel, multicomponent strategies were most effective for systolic BP reduction, including team-based care with medication titration by a nonphysician (-7.1 mm Hg [95% CI, -8.9 to -5.2 mm Hg]), team-based care with medication titration by a physician (-6.2 mm Hg [CI, -8.1 to -4.2 mm Hg]), and multilevel strategies without team-based care (-5.0 mm Hg [CI, -8.0 to -2.0 mm Hg]). Patient-level strategies resulted in systolic BP changes of -3.9 mm Hg (CI, -5.4 to -2.3 mm Hg) for health coaching and -2.7 mm Hg (CI, -3.6 to -1.7 mm Hg) for home BP monitoring. Similar trends were seen for diastolic BP reduction.

Limitation: Sparse data from low- and middle-income countries; few trials of some implementation strategies, such as provider training; and possible publication bias.

Conclusion: Multilevel, multicomponent strategies, followed by patient-level strategies, are most effective for BP control in patients with hypertension and should be used to improve hypertension control.

Primary Funding Source: National Institutes of Health.