Systematic Medical Appraisal, Referral and Treatment (SMART) Health in rural India

The overall objective of this research is to investigate the 10 years cardiac risk assessment for high risk patients and effectiveness of an innovative and multi-disciplinary program addressing blood pressure (BP) control in rural India.

The specific aims are:

• To develop a multifaceted primary healthcare worker intervention that utilises a smartphone clinical decision support system to improve optimal BP control in high risk individuals.
• To evaluate this program utilising a mixed methods evaluation in a cluster randomised trial involving villages in rural Andhra Pradesh.

Methods

A cRCT will be done where 54 villages will be randomized at different times to receive the intervention which will comprise of:

• Provision of smartphones, BP monitors and other diagnostic tools (eg glucometers), and access to the CDSS via the Sanamobile platform for all ASHAs and PHC doctors in the intervention period
• Workforce capacity building for ASHAs and PHC doctors

Status

Study has ended, data analysis ongoing. More than 54,000 subjects aged 40 years and above in 54 villages have been screened.