Effect of nurse counselling on metabolic risk factors in patients with mild hypertension: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Hypertension often clusters with metabolic risk factors and its optimal treatment may involve a number of changes in lifestyle. Nurse-led care regarding lifestyle change may improve outcomes in cardiovascular disease prevention involving.Objective: To examine if lifestyle guidance given by a nurse improved components of the metabolic syndrome including blood pressure, lipids and waist circumference.Subjects and design: Subjects that participated in a health screening with systolic blood pressure 140–169 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure 90–99 mm Hg at a minimum of three separate readings treated or not treated with antihypertensive drugs were randomly allocated either to monthly nurse-led lifestyle counselling (intervention group, N = 31) or to conventional primary care (control group, N = 20) to be followed by lifestyle counselling.Results: The mean (S.D.) baseline and end of study blood pressure was 157 (9)/94 (6) mm Hg and 147 (9)/91 (8) mm Hg, respectively, in the intervention group versu...