The Northern Manhattan Healthy Heart Initiative (NMHHI) is in response to the NHLBI's interest in interventions that address multiple risk factors for people at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and utilizes the existing framework for community based participatory research in our NIH funded Center of Excellence on Health Disparities Research. We propose to examine the effectiveness of a Community Health Worker (CHW) intervention in CVD risk reduction among Caribbean Latinos. Although CHWs programs have exited in the US for over 4 decades, numerous recent reviews continue to identify the lack of rigorous evaluation data as the primary barrier limiting the dissemination of CHW programs. Our proposal addresses specific research priority needs of our community planning council. Our community partners participated in all aspects of the proposal including conception, jointly formulating the study design, and developing and writing major sections of the study intervention. The study design is a randomized controlled trial of 800 Latino patients aged 35-65 with hypertension, diabetes, or hypercholesterolemia being cared at 7 primary care sites. The study builds on a successful diabetes CHW program previously developed by our community partners and our medical center.
The Specific Aim i s to determine if a community based CHW intervention results in lowering of CVD risk factors at 18 months as measured by the Total Framingham Risk Score (FRS). Additional primary outcomes include blood pressure and LDL cholesterol. Secondary objectives will determine if the CHW intervention results in improvements in the following putative mechanisms that may influence the FRS: 1) Medication adherence;2) Improvements in diet and exercise;and 3) Self efficacy, all measured using culturally validated instruments. At study conclusion we will also examine the cost effectiveness of our intervention. Our CHW intervention uses the Chronic Care Model as an overarching framework and builds on existing programmatic strengths at each CBO. Our two community partners will have a major role in this application including primary responsibly for subject recruitment, hiring and training the CHWs, delivering the CHW intervention, and collaborating on study finding dissemination. This is reflected in the budget, half of which is to the community partners. The dissemination activities to be undertaken by our team will prioritize developing mechanisms for the sustainability of the CHW intervention including discussions with our local Medicaid managed care plans which have ongoing interests in innovative cost-effective culturally appropriate health care delivery models such as CHWs.

Public Health Relevance

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Hispanics. Hispanics also have many risk factors for heart disease. Our study will determine if community health workers can reduce the risk of heart disease among Caribbean Latinos living in Northern Manhattan.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
7R01HL083857-02
Application #
7678420
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-HOP-S (52))
Program Officer
Czajkowski, Susan
Project Start
2008-09-01
Project End
2012-06-30
Budget Start
2009-09-01
Budget End
2010-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$807,253
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Miami School of Medicine
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
052780918
City
Coral Gables
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
33146
Carrasquillo, Olveen; Lebron, Cynthia; Alonzo, Yisel et al. (2017) Effect of a Community Health Worker Intervention Among Latinos With Poorly Controlled Type 2 Diabetes: The Miami Healthy Heart Initiative Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med 177:948-954
Chang, Aileen; Kenya, Sonjia; Ilangovan, Kumar et al. (2015) Is greater acculturation associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among Latinos in South Florida? Med Care 53:417-22
Kenya, Sonjia; Lebron, Cynthia Nicole; Chang, Aileen Yu Hen et al. (2015) A profile of Latinos with poorly controlled diabetes in South Florida. J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect 5:26586
Lebron, Cynthia N; Reyes-Arrechea, Ernesto; Castillo, Andrea et al. (2015) Tales from the Miami Healthy Heart Initiative: the experiences of two community health workers. J Health Care Poor Underserved 26:453-62
Carrasquillo, Olveen; Patberg, Elizabeth; Alonzo, Yisel et al. (2014) Rationale and design of the Miami Healthy Heart Initiative: a randomized controlled study of a community health worker intervention among Latino patients with poorly controlled diabetes. Int J Gen Med 7:115-26
Kenya, Sonjia; Lebron, Cynthia; Reyes Arrechea, Ernesto et al. (2014) Glucometer use and glycemic control among Hispanic patients with diabetes in southern Florida. Clin Ther 36:485-93
Palmas, Walter; Findley, Sally E; Mejia, Miriam et al. (2014) Results of the northern Manhattan diabetes community outreach project: a randomized trial studying a community health worker intervention to improve diabetes care in Hispanic adults. Diabetes Care 37:963-9
Palmas, Walter; Teresi, Jeanne A; Findley, Sally et al. (2012) Protocol for the Northern Manhattan Diabetes Community Outreach Project. A randomised trial of a community health worker intervention to improve diabetes care in Hispanic adults. BMJ Open 2:e001051