Effectiveness of a community-based education and peer support led by women's self-help groups in improving the control of hypertension in urban slums of Kerala, India: a cluster randomised controlled pragmatic trial.

Background: With less than 20% of people with hypertension achieving their target blood pressure (BP) goals, uncontrolled hypertension remains a major public health problem in India. We conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of a community-based education and peer support programme led by women's self-help group (SHG) members in reducing the mean systolic BP among people with hypertension in urban slums of Kochi city, Kerala, India.

Methods: A cluster randomised controlled pragmatic trial was conducted where 20 slums were randomised to either the intervention or the control arms.