Objective: To develop a non-pharmacotherapy program for patients with hyperlipidemia and assess its effectiveness.
Methods: A cluster control trial was used. The experimental group was given non-pharmacotherapy for hyperlipidemia once a week for 6 weeks; the content of non-pharmacotherapy included the basic knowledge about hyperlipidemia, a guide of changing unhealthy diet and life-style. Patients were followed for once every two weeks in the department of out-patient. The control group received general care conducted by university clinicians, without the non-pharmacotherapy program. A self-completion questionnaire on hyperlipidemia-related knowledge level, questionnaires on diet and exercise, body weight, body height and the serum TG, TC were measured at entry point and at the end of 6 month.
Results: One hundred and fifty-four patients in experimental group and 150 patients in control group completed the study. The non-pharmacotherapy group showed a significant increase of knowledge on hyperlipidemia in the experimental group comparing with the control group: the mean (sd) score of hyperlipidemia-related knowledge were 22.5 (4.8), 17.4 (4.2) (95% CI: 4.1, 6.1). The diet score and the proportion of regular physical activity had increased 27.20%, 21.78% respectively in experimental group. The mean (sd) of serum TG, TC and body mass index (BMI) for experimental group [2.0 (0.9) mmol/L, 5.4 (0.9) mmol/L, 23.4 (1.9)] lowered significantly comparing to those for control group [2.4 (0.9) mmol/L, 5.9 (1.0) mmol/L, 24.2 (3.0)].
Conclusion: Non-pharmacotherapy seemed to be an important intervention for the patients with hyperlipidemia. If same patients with hyperlipidemia failed to respond to non-pharmacotherapy, it is necessary to use pharmacotherapy. However, non-pharmacotherapy should be viewed as basic therapy.