PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 388 - 9 Nov 2002

Quality of antihypertensive therapyimproved with guideline

interventionThe quality of antihypertensive therapy can be

improved with an intervention strategy based oninvolving physicians in the development of simpleevidence-based guidelines, say researchers from Italy.

The guidelines were produced and then tested by 48physicians on a random sample of 1049 patients treatedfor hypertension over a 1-year period; a control group of42 physicians treated a parallel nonintervention cohortof 722 similar patients.* At 1-year’s follow-up, asignificantly greater proportion of patients in theintervention, compared with the nonintervention, groupreceived appropriate antihypertensive medication. Thismore rational drug use also improved compliance withtherapy, antihypertensive efficacy, and tolerabilityprofiles, ‘with the further benefit of a reduction of drugcosts per patient’, note the researchers.* The study was supported in part by an educational grant fromHoechst-Roussel and Du Pont Pharma Italia.

Avanzini F, et al. Simple, shared guidelines raise the quality of antihypertensivetreatment in routine care. American Heart Journal 144: 726-732, Oct2002 800924103

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 9 Nov 2002 No. 3881173-5503/10/0388-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved