Efficacy of an optimized therapeutic training during the correction of modifiable risk factors among hypertensive smokers

Abstract

Background and objective. The strategy aimed at overall cardiovascular risk reduction involves the assessment of patient’s personality and motivating him/her to change his/her lifestyle. Poor medication adherence and coping behavior of smokers with hypertension (HTN) indicate the need for improvements in therapeutic training and including into the training program both information on stress and the information related to stress coping behavior. The purpose of the study was the assessment of the efficacy of an optimized therapeutic training during the correction of modifiable risk factors among HTN smokers. Design and methods. We surveyed 102 male smokers with HTN; among them 52 male smokers with HTN (mean age 48,5 ± 1,05 years, disease duration of 7,9 ± 0,52 years and smoking history of 18,0 ± 1,16 years) attended an optimized program of the School for Patients with HTN, and 50 male smokers with HTN (mean age 49,7 ± 1,04 years, disease duration of 7,6 ± 0,47 years and smoking history of 19,2 ± 0,85 years) attended a standard structured program of the School for Patients with HTN. The enhancement of the training program of the School for Patients with HTN consisted in perfoming a person-oriented training at this School and introducing a modified stress coping skills training course. Results. The efficacy of the optimized therapeutic training of male smokers with HTN was determined. We found a number of advantages of the enhanced therapeutic training over the standard structured training with respect to the correction of modifiable risk factors among smokers with HTN. The optimized therapeutic training helps to maintain target blood pressure level, to reduce smoking intensity, to reduce the levels of nicotine dependence and triglyceride concentrations, as well as to extend the range of coping behavior strategies. Conclusions. The introduction of a modified stress coping skills training course and a person-centred model of therapeutic training in the program of the therapeutic training of smokers with HTN improves the efficiency of the correction of modifiable risk factors.