RESULTS

Study population

A total of 89 patients were included during a 12 months period. Baseline characteristics were similar across the groups, and did not differ significantly on any criteria (Table 2).
Sixteen (16) patients were lost to follow-up: 11 did not come back to the consultation within the three months as planned and five did not get their therapeutic parameters measured at the follow-up consultation (Figure 2). Five of these patients were in the control group and 11 in the intervention group. Baseline characteristics were similar between the drop out patients and the patients that ended the study (Sup. Data Table 1).

Duration

Interviews lasted between 10 to 90 minutes, with an average of 36.1 minutes (95% confidence interval 31.6 – 40.6 minutes) and a median of 35 minutes (first-last quartile: 25-45 minutes).

Primary outcome

The per protocol analysis reported a significantly higher proportion of patients reaching the therapeutic objectives in the intervention group (61.7% versus 33.3%; p=0.015) (Table 2).
In the sensitivity analysis, the difference between the two groups was higher in “best case scenario” (71.1% versus 29.5%; p<0.0001) and lower in the “worst case scenario” (46.7%versus 40.9%; p=0.584) (Table 2).

Subgroup analysis

Number of prescribed drugs

The proportion of patients achieving therapeutic goals was not different between the two groups for patients who took less than five different drugs each day (60.0% vs. 64.3%; p=0.812). Conversely, for patients taking five or more different drugs, more patients reached the therapeutic goals in the intervention group compared to the control group (16.7% vs. 60.0%; p=0.005) (Table 2).

Age

In patients under 60 years old, no difference appeared in the proportion of patients achieving therapeutic goals between the two groups (50.0%vs. 66.7%; p=0.362) (table 2). On the contrary, in patients over 60 years old, patients in the intervention group reached the therapeutic goals more than the patients in the control group (26.1% vs.57.9%; p=0.037) (Table 2).