OUTCOMES OF COMMUNITY PHARMACIST’ CARDIOVASCULAR RISK INTERVENTION AMONG HIGH RISK RURAL DWELLERS

Community pharmacists are well placed to contribute to reduction of premature deaths from cardiovascular disease by implementing risk assessment and reduction strategies. The objective of this study was to assess outcomes of pharmacist’s cardiovascular risk reduction intervention among high risk persons dwelling in a rural community. Cardiovascular risk reduction intervention was carried out among 45 high risk patients using a non-randomized before and after design. Blood pressure, total cholesterol, random blood sugar and BMI were measured. Intervention consisted of leaflet based patient education, referral to physician and provision of prescribed medications at no charge. Data were expressed as mean, standard deviation and 95% confidence interval. Differences between baseline and post intervention values were explored using paired t test. The primary outcome measure was change in cardiovascular risk category between baseline and end of study. The results show that there were significant differences in blood pressures at baseline vs. post-intervention, (184.74 ± 15.78 vs. 138.69 ± 13.57; P ˂ 0.001), and (102.17 ± 15.14 vs. 82.62 ± 9.45, P ˂ 0.001) for systolic and diastolic blood pressures respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in other clinical characteristics. Of the 9 males in high risk category at baseline, all were reclassified as low risk at the end of the study. At baseline 10 females in the high risk category were reclassified as low risk while 19 of the 23 in the very high risk category were reclassified as low risk (82.6%). These findings indicate that pharmacist’s interventions lowered cardiovascular risk among high risk rural community dwellers.