Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 8, 2026
A Novel Digital Platform for a Monitored Home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
Published on: April 19, 2019
Caribbean and South American team-based strategy to control hypertension (CATCH): Rationale and study design of a
Katherine T Mills1, Trevor Ferguson2, Jose P Lopez-Lopez3
1Department of Epidemiology, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.
Insights
This study evaluates a team-based care strategy to improve hypertension control in low-resource settings. The Caribbean and South American Team-based Strategy to Control Hypertension (CATCH) trial aims to reduce blood pressure (BP) in primary care.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Health
- Public Health Interventions
- Implementation Science
Background:
- Hypertension prevalence and poor control rates disproportionately impact low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
- A significant knowledge-practice gap exists in blood pressure (BP) management in these regions.
- Latin America and the Caribbean show particularly high burdens of uncontrolled hypertension.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effectiveness of a team-based care strategy for improving BP control in primary care settings.
- To evaluate the implementation of this strategy in Colombia and Jamaica.
- To address the gap between current hypertension guidelines and clinical practice in LMICs.
Main Methods:
- The Caribbean and South American Team-based Strategy to Control Hypertension (CATCH) study employs a cluster randomized trial with an effectiveness-implementation hybrid design.
- Forty primary care clinics in Jamaica and Colombia were randomized to either a team-based strategy or a provider-training strategy.
- The team-based strategy incorporates training, care coordination, task sharing, BP monitoring, health coaching, and optimized medication access.
Main Results:
- The study enrolled 1,707 participants, exceeding the planned sample size.
- The primary clinical outcome is the change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) from baseline to 18 months.
- The primary implementation outcome is the fidelity to key components of the intervention strategy.
Conclusions:
- The CATCH study will yield crucial evidence on the effectiveness and implementation of team-based care for hypertension in LMICs.
- Findings will inform the potential scalability of this strategy in real-world primary care.
- Successful implementation could significantly improve hypertension control across LMICs.
Rationale:
Hypertension disproportionately affects populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, due to its high prevalence and low control rate.
Primary Hypothesis:
To close the knowledge-practice gap for blood pressure (BP) control, we are assessing the effectiveness and implementation of a team-based care strategy for BP control in primary care clinics in Colombia and Jamaica.
Design:
The Caribbean and South American Team-based Strategy to Control Hypertension (CATCH) study is a cluster randomized trial using an effectiveness-implementation hybrid type-2 design. Clinics were randomly assigned to a team-based strategy or a provider-training strategy to implement current hypertension guidelines. The team-based strategy includes healthcare team training, care coordination, task sharing, BP audit and feedback, home BP monitoring, health coaching, single-pill combination therapy, and increased medication access. The primary clinical effectiveness outcome is difference in mean change of systolic BP from baseline to 18 months between randomized groups. The primary implementation outcome is a composite fidelity score to key implementation strategy components.
Sites:
CATCH is conducted in 40 primary care clinics in Jamaica and Colombia.
Enrollment:
Between February 2023 and August 2024, we recruited 1,707 participants, exceeding our planned enrollment. The planned sample size of 1,680 (42 patients per each of 40 clinics) has 90% statistical power to detect a 6.0 mm Hg difference in mean systolic BP change assuming 85% follow-up and a 2-sided significance level of 0.05.
Current Status:
In follow-up CONCLUSIONS: CATCH will provide evidence on effectiveness and implementation of a team-based care strategy to improve hypertension control in real-world, primary care settings. If proven effective, this approach can be scaled up in primary care throughout low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Clinical Trial Registration:
Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05405920 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/ NCT05405920.
More Related Videos
09:33Visualizing Field Data Collection Procedures of Exposure and Biomarker Assessments for the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial in India
Published on: December 23, 2022
04:53A Clinical Trial Assessing the Safety, Efficacy, and Delivery of Olive-Oil-Based Three-Chamber Bags for Parenteral Nutrition
Published on: September 20, 2019
Related Concept Videos
01:15Bioequivalence Experimental Study Designs: Repeated Measures, Cross-Over, Carry-Over, and Latin Square Designs
01:20Study Designs in Epidemiology
Observational studies are those where the researcher does not intervene but rather observes natural variations. They include cross-sectional, cohort, and...
01:12Hazard Ratio
For example, in a clinical trial...
01:23Hypertension V: Nursing Management
01:28Hypertension IV: Drug Therapy and Lifestyle Modifications
01:15Study Design in Statistics
Does aspirin reduce the risk of heart attacks? Is one brand of fertilizer more effective at growing roses than another? Is fatigue as dangerous to a driver as the influence of alcohol? Questions like these are answered using randomized experiments with proper...