TY - JOUR T1 - CAse management to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease in a county health care system AU - Ma J, Berra K, Haskell WL, et al Y1 - 2009/11/23 N1 - 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.381 JO - Archives of Internal Medicine SP - 1988 EP - 1995 VL - 169 IS - 21 N2 - Background  Case management (CM) is a systematic approach to supplement physician-centered efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). Research is limited on its implementation and efficacy in low-income, ethnic minority populations.Methods  We conducted a randomized clinical trial to evaluate a nurse- and dietitian-led CM program for reducing major CVD risk factors in low-income, primarily ethnic minority patients in a county health care system, 63.0% of whom had type 2 diabetes mellitus. The primary outcome was the Framingham risk score (FRS).Results  A total of 419 patients at elevated risk of CVD events were randomized and followed up for a mean of 16 months (81.4% retention). The mean FRS was significantly lower for the CM vs usual care group at follow-up (7.80 [95% confidence interval, 7.21-8.38] vs 8.93 [8.36-9.49]; P = .001) after adjusting for baseline FRS. This is equivalent to 5 fewer heart disease events per 1000 individuals per year attributable to the intervention or to 200 individuals receiving the intervention to prevent 1 event per year. The pattern of group differences in the FRS was similar in subgroups defined a priori by sex and ethnicity. The main driver of these differences was lowering the mean (SD) systolic (−4.2 [18.5] vs 2.6 [22.7] mm Hg; P = .003) and diastolic (−6.0 [11.6] vs −3.0 [11.7] mm Hg; P = .02) blood pressures for the CM vs usual care group.Conclusion  Nurse and dietitian CM targeting multifactor risk reduction can lead to modest improvements in CVD risk factors among high-risk patients in low-income, ethnic minority populations receiving care in county health clinics.Trial Registration  clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00128687 SN - 0003-9926 M3 - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.381 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.381 ER -