Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of monitoring blood pressure of hypertensive employees at work.

In this randomized controlled trial, the value of using occupational health nurses (OHNs) to monitor the care of hypertensive employees at work was compared with regular care (RC) delivered in the community. One year after entry, the blood pressure level, medication history, compliance with treatment, and cost of hypertensive care of the participants were determined by independent evaluators. The reduction in diastolic blood pressure (DBP), the measure of effectiveness, was 10.5 +/- 1.1 mm Hg (mean +/- SEM) in the OHN group and 7.7 +/- 1.1 mm Hg in the RC group, and the proportion under good blood pressure control was 41.8% and 31.0% respectively. These between-group differences were not statistically significant. Although the employees in the OHN group were more medicated and had a lower treatment dropout rate, neither difference was statistically significant. In addition, the proportion of employees who were compliant with prescribed medication was virtually identical in both groups. The cost of the care received by employees in the OHN group of $ 404.14 for the year was substantially higher than that of $ 250.15 in the RC group with the difference principally related to the cost of visiting the OHNs and a significant difference in drug cost (p less than 0.006). The incremental cost-effectiveness (C/E) ratio of $ 53.67 per mm Hg DBP reduction per year for onsite blood pressure monitoring was higher than the base C/E ratio of $ 32.65 per mm Hg for regular care. Our findings indicate that monitoring the blood pressure of hypertensive employees at work is neither clinically effective nor cost-effective.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)