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Global Translational Medicine Recent community-based CVD interventions

interventions and incorporated into the studies by the including utilization of community resources, cultural
HHCPP. This analysis also revealed that community adaptations, and incorporation of innovative approaches
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interventions led to significant reductions in blood such as faith-based engagement and digital health
pressure compared with the standard treatment groups. technologies are broadly applicable across these conditions
While not a community-based intervention per se, the and have been implemented.
2024 RICH LIFE trial demonstrated that multilevel, It is worth mentioning that many community-based
equity-focused strategies within primary care settings such cardiovascular efforts originate organically within
as incorporating social needs screening and team-based communities and operate independently of research
management can significantly improve blood pressure protocols. For instance, since 2016, Linda Peterson, MD,
control in high-risk populations, particularly in rural a cardiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, has
areas and among patients with coronary heart disease. led a unique early prevention school-based cardiovascular
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The SAHELI, an RCT performed in Chicago, Illinois, outreach initiative targeting both grade school and high
among the US South Asian adults, investigated a 16-week school students across the St. Louis region. The program
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culturally adapted group lifestyle intervention versus introduces young students – many from underserved
written health education materials to reduce CVD risk communities – to the basics of heart function, the
factors including blood pressure, cholesterol, and HbA1c.
Although the study did not meet its primary outcome of importance of cardiovascular health, and the role of
improving the CVD risk factors, the intervention was at cardiologists. Over the years, the program has expanded
least associated with minor improvements in self-reported from a single-classroom effort to a multi-team initiative,
reaching an estimated 1,300 students across several public
health behaviors, which can be a stepping stone in the schools. While not originally designed as a research study,
long-term management. 38
this model demonstrates potential in academic-community
In addition to efforts within the US, several recent partnerships aimed at improving cardiovascular health
community-based RCTs conducted globally have yielded literacy from an early age. Such programs present valuable
overwhelmingly positive results. A large 2023 RCT opportunities for systematic research, and efforts should be
studying a geographically diverse population of 33,995 made to remove barriers and facilitate funding mechanisms
participants in China showed that participants receiving that support their integration into formal study designs. If
a blood pressure intervention led by non-physician proven effective through research, these programs could
community healthcare professionals had significantly be implemented either as a standalone intervention or
lower rates of major cardiovascular events including a integrated into broader, multimodal community-based
composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure strategies to improve cardiovascular health across diverse
requiring hospitalization, and CVD-related death after communities in the US and globally.
36 months compared with the standard care group (hazard
ratio [HR]: 0.67, 95% confidence interval: 0.61 – 0.73). 6. Future directions: 2025 and beyond
They also found a significant reduction in blood pressure in CVD community-based interventions are emerging as
the intervention group. Another Chinese RCT evaluated essential tools for reducing population-level risk, improving
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a digital health behavioral intervention for older adults equity, and fostering sustainable health behavior change.
with hypertension. The intervention utilized a social Moving forward, the continued success and scalability of
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media-based messaging platform and health education, these interventions will depend not only on innovation
incorporating personalized exercise prescriptions, and research but also on their thoughtful integration into
dietary guidance based on the Dietary Approaches to healthcare systems and policy frameworks (Figure 1).
Stop Hypertension diet, medication adherence strategies,
and regular blood pressure monitoring. Over a 12-week Digital health technologies offer immense potential
period, participants in the intervention group experienced for expanding the reach and efficacy of community-based
significant improvements compared to the control group, interventions. Incorporating mobile platforms, wearable
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including a reduction in systolic blood pressure by 7.36 devices, and app-based peer support has shown promise in
mm Hg (p=0.002), increased exercise time, enhanced improving blood pressure control, medication adherence,
medication adherence, and more frequent blood pressure and patient engagement. Furthermore, the integration of
monitoring. Several other community-based intervention artificial intelligence into community-based research offers
studies performed across the world including India, Mexico, a unique opportunity to leverage big data, particularly data
Nepal, Brazil, and Kenya have addressed hypertension on social determinants of health to design interventions,
and/or other major CVD risk factors, including obesity, identify at-risk populations, and optimize resource
diabetes, and even depression. 40-45 The core strategies allocation. However, barriers such as digital literacy
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Volume 4 Issue 3 (2025) 55 doi: 10.36922/GTM025170040