Simplified Cardiovascular Management Study (SimCard)

• Net Difference in Proportion Treated with Low-dose Diuretics [ Time Frame: baseline and at one year ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The primary outcome will be the net differences between the changes in the proportion of high-risk individuals treated with low-dose diuretics pre-and-post intervention between intervention and control villages. The outcome measure will be assessed via a questionnaire that will ask about low-dose diuretics usage that will be administered at baseline and then again following the intervention period at around one year.
  
  

• Net Difference from Baseline in Mean Blood Pressure [ Time Frame: baseline and at one year ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The net difference in mean post-intervention blood pressure changes of high-risk patients from baseline between intervention and control villages will be measured. This outcome measure will be taken at baseline and then again following the intervention period at around one year using a standardized electronic blood pressure monitor. Each subject's blood pressure will be taken twice at different time points within the same visit for the baseline measurement and one year follow-up measurement.
  
  

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and disability in not only developed, but also developing countries. There are well-established interventions such as lifestyle modification and drug therapies, i.e., aspirin and low-dose diuretics, that along with their consistent use, can help alleviate these burdens if the practicalities of how to deliver such care to large numbers in resource-poor settings at low cost can be resolved. One particular cost-effective approach for secondary prevention of CVD is to identify and manage individuals at high CVD risk in order to prevent or delay events. This approach has been tested in the rural Andhra Pradesh Cardiovascular Prevention Study in India and is currently being implemented in rural areas of northern China in the China Rural Health Initiative funded by NHLBI.

This project aims to address the highly prevalent problem of CVD in even more remote and poor areas of China that have received only minimal attention so far, specifically Tibet, China. This pilot project will be a cluster-randomized controlled interventional trial that will include a total of 20 villages in 8 townships in Gongbujiangda County, Tibet and will last for one year. The villages will be randomized to receive either the intervention package (10 villages) or usual care (10 villages). At baseline, village-wide screenings will be done to identify high-risk individuals in the selected villages who will then be followed throughout the study to about one year.

The interventional model will make use of a highly simplified cardiovascular disease management plan targeting lifestyle modification and utilization of basic drug regimens to help overcome the barriers in prevention and management of CVD in these areas with extremely limited economic and natural resources, minimal public awareness to the problem, and a lack of trained healthcare professionals.

Electronic blood pressure monitors will be used in all villages to measure the blood pressures of these individuals. However accuracy of the electronic blood pressure monitor measurements needs to be considered due to Tibet's high altitude. A study to validate and calibrate the selected blood pressure monitor model in both plains and high altitude areas will thus be undertaken using the validation procedure published by the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) to ensure accuracy.