Participants
’ systolic blood pressure, hypertension, Hypertension
PRIMARY HYPERTENSION, HEPATIC IMPAIRMENT, HEART, MALIGNANT TUMORS, HYPERTENSION, RENAL INSUFFICIENCY, HEART FAILURE, HYPERTENSION
One hundred twenty patients with hypertension who were hospitalized in Taizhou People’s Hospital, Taizhou, China, from September to December 2019, were selected as participants. This study was a randomized controlled trial, which was divided into intervention group and control group using a computer-generated random sequence. Further, the participants were subjected to detailed interviews and rigorous evaluations.The patients’ systolic blood pressure was taken as the observation index. If the intervention group reduced their systolic blood pressure by 5.86 mmHg more than the control group did, then the drug was considered to have application value. According to a literature review and preliminary experimental results, the standard deviation of systolic blood pressure reduction in the control group andintervention group was 10.70 mmHg and 8.11 mmHg, respectively. Moreover, according to the 1:1 parallel control design, the unilateral test was set as unilateral α = 0.025, and the degree of assurance was 80%. Using PASS 15 software, the sample size of the control group and the intervention group was calculated to be 43 cases, and a total of at least 86 cases were included in this study. Considering the possible shedding rate and the period of our study, 60 cases in each group was determined as the sample to be included in this study. At the end of the study, 9 participants in the intervention group and 10 in the control group were lost to follow-up. Participants who were lost to follow-up were eliminated from the study. Finally, 51 participants in the intervention group and 50 in the control group completed the follow-up for 12 months, with complete data collected for analysis. The overall drop-out rate was 15.8%. Drop-out rates were 16.7% and 15.0% among control and intervention group participants, respectively. No statistical association was observed between group assignment and study drop-outs, as shown in the additional file Inclusion criteria were (1) age 45–80 years; (2) suffering from more than two NCDs with hypertension which was diagnosed in conformity with the standard of primary hypertension specified in the Guidance for Hypertension Prevention and Control Management at the National Grassroots Level (Version 2020); (3) using more than five drugs; and (4) informed consent to participate in this survey, conscious and able to communicate effectively. The main exclusion criteria included (1) with psychological and mental illnesses or other mental health conditionsrequiring medication; (2) being diagnosed with New York Heart Association Class III or IV heart failure; (3) with critical illnesses such as severe hepatic impairment, renal insufficiency, and malignant tumors, who were unable to withstand the process and effects of the evaluation; (4) being unreachable at the time of the first telephone follow-up visit and having no other contact information. Patients who died or without complete clinical data were also excluded.