African American men got better hypertension control from an intervention involving specialty pharmacists visiting their barbershops than if they were just encouraged to seek medical care from their usual doctors, a cluster randomized trial showed.
Mean systolic blood pressure dropped 27.0 mm Hg after 6 months in men assigned to barbershops where barbers encouraged patrons to meet with specialty-trained pharmacists who prescribed drug therapy under an agreement with the participants' doctors, compared to a decline of 9.3 mm Hg in systolic pressure among men assigned to control barbershops, where the barbers merely promoted lifestyle modification and physician visits.
Mean declines were 21.6 mm Hg greater with the intervention (95% CI 14.7-28.4), Ronald Victor, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and colleagues reported in the New England Journal of Medicine and simultaneously at an American College of Cardiology meeting late-breaking trial session in Washington, D.C.
The blood pressure goal of 130/80 mm Hg or less -- fitting with the new 2017 American blood pressure guidelines -- was achieved in 63.6% of intervention versus 11.7% of control groups (P<0.001).
"Among black male barbershop patrons with uncontrolled hypertension, health promotion by barbers resulted in larger blood-pressure reduction when coupled with medication management in barbershops by specialty-trained pharmacists," Victor's group concluded.
As it stands, non-Hispanic black men have the highest rate of hypertension-related death of any racial, ethnic, or sex group in the U.S., they noted, adding that black men have less physician interaction than black women and lower rates of hypertension treatment and control.
"The study builds on previous studies that demonstrate black barbershops can be effective venues for interventions to lower blood pressure in black men. Previous studies have also demonstrated that pharmacist-led interventions to improve hypertension control can be effective," commented Joseph Ravenell, MD, of NYU Langone Health.