Yongbing Ni, Yongfa Chen, and Wenlong Huang

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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of pharmaceutical care (PC) programs on blood pressure control in individuals with hypertension.

Methods: Studies were retrieved by searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, CNKI, and CBM databases from 1999 to February 2008. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the association of pharmaceutical care programs with blood pressure control in individuals with hypertension were included in this study. Moreover, the studies were selected independently by 2 authors. The analysis was conducted by using Review Manager version 4.2 software.

Results: Five RCTs with a total of 585 patients with hypertension were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with the control group, the PC program intervention group had significantly lower endpoint systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Moreover, SBP and DBP were significantly improved in the intervention group relative to the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: PC programs appear to be an effective tool in helping to control blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

J Pharm Technol 2009;25:292-6.