The Effect of Health Education by Pharmacists on 10-Year Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk: A Cluster-Randomized Control Study in a Low Socioeconomic Status Javanese Population.

BACKGROUND: Evidence from previous studies demonstrates that lifestyle modification reduces the incidence and complications of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The study aimed to investigate the effect of a lifestyle intervention provided by pharmacists on the 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk and quality of life (QoL) in a low socioeconomic status Javanese population.

METHODS: This research was a cluster-randomized controlled study of 1-year duration, conducted in a lower social economic community in the Sleman District of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The eligible subjects were dichotomized into 2 groups: 40 to 55 years (n = 61 vs 65) and 56 to 70 years (n = 21 vs 43) for intervention and control subjects, respectively. The ASCVD score and risk factors within the age-based groups were analyzed using T test/Mann-Whitney test for continuous data or chi-square test for categorical data.

RESULTS: The intervention and control subjects had similar baseline characteristics ( P > .05), including the ASCVD risk with the low- and high-risk classification for younger and elder subjects, respectively. At final follow-up, the younger intervention subjects had lower 10-year ASCVD risk ( P = .001), higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( P = .02), smoking status ( P = .001), persistence rate ( P = .03), and QoL value for the physical and social function domains ( P < .05) than the control subjects, whereas the elder intervention subjects only had better ASCVD risk score than controls ( P = .03). Smoking interacting with intervention was the most influential variable on ASCVD risk in logistic regression analysis.

CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates that the health education by the pharmacists produce significant outcomes of the ASCVD risk, smoking status, and QoL of physical and social function particularly in the younger group.