Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26355056›Full record

ArticleHealth affairs (Project Hope)2015

Cardiovascular Disease Screening By Community Health Workers Can Be Cost-Effective In Low-Resource Countries.

Thomas Gaziano, Shafika Abrahams-Gessel, Sam Surka, Stephen Sy, Ankur Pandya, Catalina A Denman, Carlos Mendoza, Thandi Puoane, Naomi S Levitt

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Health affairs (Project Hope), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  4. Mobile App-Based Health Promotion Programs: A Systematic Review of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018
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  12. Systematic review and meta-analysis of cardiovascular disease risk among hypertensive patients in Africa.International journal of cardiology. Cardiovascular risk and prevention · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Thomas GazianoThomas Gaziano (tgaziano@partners.org) is an assistant professor in the Cardiovascular Division of Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Shafika Abrahams-GesselShafika Abrahams-Gessel is a research manager at the Center for Health Decision Science in the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston.
Sam SurkaSam Surka is a researcher in the Chronic Diseases Initiative for Africa at Old Groote Schuur Hospital, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Stephen SyStephen Sy is a programmer at the Center for Health Decision Science in the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Ankur PandyaAnkur Pandya is an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Catalina A DenmanCatalina A. Denman is a professor in the Centro de Estudios en Salud y Sociedad at El Colegio de Sonora, in Hermosillo, Mexico.
Carlos MendozaCarlos Mendoza is a coinvestigator at the Instituto de Nutricion de Centro America y Panama, in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Thandi PuoaneThandi Puoane is a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape, in Bellville, South Africa.
Naomi S LevittNaomi S. Levitt is director of the Division of Diabetes and the Chronic Diseases Initiative for Africa, both at Old Groote Schuur Hospital.

Funding

Global Cardiovascular Disease Policy Model for Screening Prevention and TreatmentR01HL104284 · NHLBI · HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI GAZIANO, THOMAS A · 2010 to 2014
$2.5M
NHLBI NIH HHS 5R01HL104284-04NHLBI NIH HHS HHSN268200900030CNHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL104284PHS HHS HHSN268200900030C
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In low-resource settings, a physician is not always available. We recently demonstrated that community health workers-instead of physicians or nurses-can efficiently screen adults for cardiovascular disease in South Africa, Mexico, and Guatemala. In this analysis we sought to determine the health and economic impacts of shifting this screening to community health workers equipped with either a paper-based or a mobile phone-based screening tool. We found that screening by community health workers was very cost-effective or even cost-saving in all three countries, compared to the usual clinic-based screening. The mobile application emerged as the most cost-effective strategy because it could save more lives than the paper tool at minimal extra cost. Our modeling indicated that screening by community health workers, combined with improved treatment rates, would increase the number of deaths averted from 15,000 to 110,000, compared to standard care. Policy makers should promote greater acceptance of community health workers by both national populations and health professionals and should increase their commitment to treating cardiovascular disease and making medications available.

Indexed as

Cost-Benefit AnalysisAdultAgedCardiovascular DiseasesCommunity Health WorkersCost SavingsDeveloping CountriesFemaleGuatemalaHumansMaleMass ScreeningMexicoMiddle AgedSouth Africacardiovascular diseasecommunity health workerscost-effectivenessmobile healthscreening

Identifiers

PMID26355056
PMCPMC4795815

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.