| Methods |
Random allocation, not otherwise specified |
| Participants |
210 eligible patients with established cardiovascular disease and an acute cardiovascular/cerebrovascular‐related admission, and discharged from the hospital between April and October 2001 on statin therapy, were invited to participate in the study. Patients were excluded if they had dementia, lived in a domiciliary care facility or lived beyond the greater Hobart area. 94 provided informed consent. 13 patients were subsequently lost to follow‐up; 6 from the control group and 7 from the intervention group |
| Interventions |
Patients in the intervention group were visited at home monthly by a pharmacist, who educated the patients on the goals of lipid‐lowering treatment and the importance of lifestyle issues in dyslipidemia and compliance with therapy, assessed patients for drug‐related problems, and measured total blood cholesterol levels using point‐of‐care testing. Patients in the control group received standard medical care. There was no further contact with patients in the control group after the initial collection of baseline data, until 6 months had lapsed. At that time, their final total blood cholesterol level was measured, and the current medication regimen and self reported compliance were recorded |
| Outcomes |
Self reported compliance at 6 months
Measurement of clinical health outcomes: total cholesterol levels |
| Notes |
― |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
A random number generator was used. "Patients who provided written, informed consent were allocated to either the intervention or control group, using a computer‐generated list of random numbers." (pg 24) |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
No information was provided about how allocation was handled |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Unclear risk |
No protocol available; although it appears that everything was reported it is difficult to determine this without a protocol |
| Other bias |
Low risk |
The study seems to be free of other types of bias |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
Adherence measure |
Unclear risk |
(PRIMARY) SELF REPORT QUESTIONNAIRE ‐ No mention of blinding of outcome assessor |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
Patient outcome |
Low risk |
(PRIMARY) BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVEL ‐ This is an objective measure of outcome |
| Blinding of participants (performance bias)
Adherence measure |
High risk |
(PRIMARY) SELF REPORT QUESTIONNAIRE ‐ This is a subjective measure; there is no information on blinding |
| Blinding of participants (performance bias)
Patient outcome |
Low risk |
(PRIMARY) BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVEL ‐ This is an objective measure of outcome |
| Blinding of personnel (performance bias)
Adherence measure |
Unclear risk |
(PRIMARY) SELF REPORT QUESTIONNAIRE ‐ No mention of study personnel blinding |
| Blinding of personnel (performance bias)
Patient outcome |
Low risk |
(PRIMARY) BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVEL ‐ This is an objective measure of outcome |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
Adherence measure |
Low risk |
(PRIMARY) SELF REPORT QUESTIONNAIRE ‐ Sample size at baseline was 94. 13 patients lost to follow‐up; uniform distribution of missing data |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
Patient outcome |
Unclear risk |
(PRIMARY) BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVEL ‐ Sample size at baseline was 94. 13 patients lost to follow‐up; uniform distribution of missing data |
