Wednesday, April 8, 2026<\/p>\n
NIH-supported clinical trial shows coordinated care strategy more effective than standard care<\/p>\n
A clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that\u00a0a scalable, team-based intervention\u00a0strategy\u00a0in federally qualified health centers\u00a0(FQHCs)\u00a0was able to significantly reduce systolic blood pressure for low-income participants. Scientists deployed\u00a0team-based care,\u00a0which included\u00a0intensive blood-pressure management, blood\u00a0pressure\u00a0tracking\u00a0and feedback\u00a0to\u00a0providers, health coaching on lifestyle changes and medication\u00a0adherence, and home blood-pressure monitoring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Uncontrolled\u00a0high blood pressure, known as\u00a0hypertension,\u00a0is a major preventable\u00a0risk factor for cardiovascular disease and\u00a0death worldwide.\u00a0According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only\u00a01 in 4 adults with high blood pressure has their blood pressure under control.\u00a037 million U.S. adults with uncontrolled high blood pressure have a blood pressure of 140\/90 mmHg or higher.\u00a0Lower\u00a0income Americans experience high prevalence\u00a0of hypertension and\u00a0low control rates, contributing to an increased disease burden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cEvidence-based strategies\u00a0to\u00a0treat uncontrolled hypertension among\u00a0low-income Americans are severely lacking,\u00a0even though we know this condition\u00a0is a huge risk factor for more serious heart\u00a0complications,\u201d\u00a0said NIH Director Jay\u00a0Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D.\u00a0\u201cThis\u00a0study shows us that we\u00a0can\u00a0deploy\u00a0an affordable, tested program\u00a0to help reduce the burden of heart disease in this population.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study took place at 36 HRSA-funded or designated FQHCs in Louisiana and Mississippi and enrolled more than 1,270 participants aged 40 or older. Participants qualified if they had systolic blood pressure of at least 140 mm Hg without medication or at least 130 mm Hg with medication.\u00a0Compared with enhanced usual care, which included physician education on hypertension guidelines, the team-based approach reduced systolic blood pressure by more than 15 mm Hg versus about 9 mm Hg. Prior research suggests this difference could lead to a 10% reduction in cardiovascular events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth centers play a critical role in chronic disease prevention and management, including preventing and managing hypertension,\u201d\u00a0said Administrator Tom Engels of HRSA, which oversees the Health Center Program.\u00a0\u201cBecause uncontrolled hypertension is a leading cause of death in the United States, the public health implications of this trial are significant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At 18 months, a systolic blood\u00a0pressure of less than 120 mm Hg was reported\u00a0in 21.8% of patients in the intervention group\u00a0and in 15.1% in the control group. A\u00a0systolic blood pressure of less than 130 mm Hg\u00a0was reported in 47.7% and 36.4% in the two\u00a0groups, respectively.\u00a0Researchers found that the cost of the team-based intervention averaged about $760 per patient,\u00a0significantly less expensive than treating resultant heart conditions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most participants had long-standing, treated but uncontrolled hypertension,\u00a0indicating\u00a0the blood pressure reductions are achievable in real-world settings. The team-based model reduced provider burden, while home monitoring and health coaching supported patient self-management and treatment adherence. Researchers conclude these strategies can scale to other primary care settings and improve hypertension control in similarly underserved populations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This clinical trial was\u00a0led by researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas,\u00a0and Tulane University, New Orleans.\u00a0The trial was\u00a0supported by grants from NIH\u2019s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL133790)\u00a0and (UH3HL151309); the\u00a0National Institute on Aging\u00a0(R33AG068481); the National Institute of General Medical Sciences\u00a0(P20GM109036); and the National Institute on Minority Health\u00a0and Health Disparities (R01MD018193).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online at\u202fhttps:\/\/www.nhlbi.nih.gov<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n NIH\u2026Turning Discovery Into Health\u00ae<\/p>\n Reference<\/p>\n \u00a0Mills\u00a0K.,\u00a0Krousel\u2011Wood\u00a0M., Peacock\u00a0E.M.,\u00a0Chen\u00a0J.,\u00a0et al.\u00a0Multifaceted Strategies for Hypertension\u00a0Control in Low-Income Patients.\u00a0N Engl J Med 2026.\u00a0DOI:\u00a010.1056\/NEJMoa2504068<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wednesday, April 8, 2026 NIH-supported clinical trial shows coordinated care strategy more effective than standard care A clinical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2996,103,40948,4763,61,60,118136,17907,17703,89,1179],"class_list":{"0":"post-388826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-clinical-trial","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-high-risk","11":"tag-hypertension","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-nhlbi","15":"tag-nih","16":"tag-populations","17":"tag-research","18":"tag-treatment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}