Educational interventions for improving control of blood pressure in patients with hypertension: a systematic review protocol

Introduction: The aim of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of educational interventions on improving the control of blood pressure in patients with hypertension. Methods: Randomised controlled trials including patients over 18 years of age, regardless of sex and ethnicity, with a diagnosis of hypertension (either treated or not treated with antihypertensive medications) will be assessed in our analysis. We will electronically search four databases: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PEDro and ScienceDirect. There will be no language restrictions in the search for studies. The data will be extracted independently by two authors using predefined criteria. Disagreements will be resolved between the authors. The risk of bias will be assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. After searching and screening of the studies, we will run a meta-analysis of the included randomised controlled trials. We will summarise the results as risk ratio for dichotomous data and mean differences for continuous data. Ethics and dissemination: The review will be published in a journal. The findings from the review will also be disseminated electronically and at conference presentations.