The importance of long-term follow-up in clinical trials
John Norrie
Abstract
In The Lancet Global Health, Rajshree Thapa and colleagues report the extended 5-year follow-up for the Community-Based Intervention for Control of Hypertension in Nepal (COBIN) cluster trial,1 in which health workers provided lifestyle advice and blood pressure monitoring every 4 months for 12 months. The COBIN trialists deserve congratulations for an excellently designed and executed study. At 12 months systolic blood pressure was reduced across participants who were normotensive, prehypertensive, and hypertensive (for whom systolic blood pressure [intervention vs control] was –4·9 mm Hg [95% CI –7·8 to –2·0]).
Topics & Concepts
MedicineBlood pressurePrehypertensionIntervention (counseling)Randomized controlled trialCluster (spacecraft)Clinical trialPhysical therapyCommunity healthGerontologyInternal medicinePublic healthNursingComputer scienceProgramming languageBlood Pressure and Hypertension StudiesCardiac Health and Mental HealthHealth, Environment, Cognitive Aging