Please select the arm or intervention descriptions that belong to the clinical trial below.
Title: Effectiveness of a Combined Strategy to Improve Therapeutic Compliance and Degree of Control Among Patients With Hypercholesterolaemia: a Randomised Clinical Trial
Brief Summary: Background In subjects with hypercholesterolaemia, cholesterol values remain above guideline levels. One of the limiting factors to the achievement of goals in such patients is therapeutic non-adherence. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve control of hypercholesterolaemic patients, consisting of a combined strategy that would include the delivery of printed information, treatment-compliance check cards and the dispatch of text messages as complementary measures in support of the intervention at the general practitioner's practice.

Methods/Design A randomised, parallel-group clinical trial will be conducted at the family medicine outpatient facilities of eight health centres in three of Spain's Autonomous Regions, covering a total of 358 subjects aged 18 years or over with diagnosis of hypercholesterolaemia. Patients in the intervention group will be supplied with printed material with information on the disease and its management, mobile-telephone text messages with guideline summaries, reminders of forthcoming appointments and/or arrangements for making new appointments in the event of non-attendance, and self-report cards to check compliance with recommendations. Both groups -intervention and control- will receive routine recommendations from their physicians in accordance with current European clinical practice guidelines for hypercholesterolaemia and cardiovascular risk management. As regards the measurements to be made, the main variable is the proportion of subjects who attain the low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels set as a target across a follow-up period of 24 months. The secondary variables are as follows: adherence to recommendations on lifestyle and adherence to drug treatment; variation in lipid profiles and cardiovascular risk levels; appearance of cardiovascular events; physical activity; food consumption; smoking habit; anthropometric measures; blood pressure; health problems; use of hypolipidaemic agents; socio-demographic data; beliefs and expectations about preventive recommendations; and degree of satisfaction with the combined strategy.

Discussion Should this intervention prove effective, a recommendation could be issued on the application of this combined strategy to subjects with hypercholesterolaemia. It is a simple, relatively inexpensive intervention.


Options:
A: Arm Label: Lay Health Worker Intervention; Type: EXPERIMENTAL; Interventions: Behavioral: Lay Health Worker Intervention | Arm Label: Placebo (a list of resources); Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR; Interventions: Behavioral: Placebo (a list of resources) | Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL; Name: Lay Health Worker Intervention; Assigned to Arm(s): Lay Health Worker Intervention | Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL; Name: Placebo (a list of resources); Assigned to Arm(s): Placebo (a list of resources)
B: Arm Label: General Adolescent Vaccine Brochure; Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR; Interventions: Behavioral: General Adolescent Vaccine Brochure | Arm Label: HPV brochure, recall, reminders; Type: EXPERIMENTAL; Interventions: Behavioral: HPV brochure, recall, reminders | Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL; Name: HPV brochure, recall, reminders; Assigned to Arm(s): HPV brochure, recall, reminders | Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL; Name: General Adolescent Vaccine Brochure; Assigned to Arm(s): General Adolescent Vaccine Brochure
C: Arm Label: Intervention group; Type: EXPERIMENTAL; Interventions: Device: "COMBINED STRATEGY" | Arm Label: Control group; Type: NO_INTERVENTION; Interventions: N/A | Intervention Type: DEVICE; Name: "COMBINED STRATEGY"; Assigned to Arm(s): Intervention group
D: Arm Label: Outreach; Type: OTHER; Interventions: Other: outreach services | Arm Label: Standard of Care; Type: NO_INTERVENTION; Interventions: N/A | Intervention Type: OTHER; Name: outreach services; Assigned to Arm(s): Outreach

Answer: C