University of Alabama at Birmingham
High blood pressure during or after pregnancy (such as preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, eclampsia, or Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet (HELLP) syndrome) raises a mother's risk of heart disease later in life. Many patients do not return for follow-up care after delivery, missing a key window to protect their heart health. The Alabama Womb to Heart Solution (AW2H) trial will test whether pairing postpartum patients with a trained community health worker (CHW) for 6 months lowers blood pressure compared with usual care. A total of 174 postpartum patients who had pregnancy-associated hypertension or stage 2 high blood pressure will be randomly assigned (1:1) to usual care or usual care plus the AW2H CHW program. All participants receive education on measuring their own blood pressure and a pregnancy-validated home blood pressure monitor. Participants in the CHW group are also contacted regularly by a CHW for 6 months. CHWs coach home blood pressure monitoring, support taking blood pressure medications as prescribed, encourage heart-healthy habits based on the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8), help schedule a primary care visit, provide mother-baby education (such as safe sleep and immunizations), and offer emotional support. The main outcome is systolic blood pressure 6 months after enrollment, measured at home with the study-provided monitor while a research coordinator observes in person or by video/phone. The study will also look at diastolic blood pressure and whether participants scheduled a primary care visit. Interviews and focus groups will explore participant, CHW, and provider experiences with the program.
This is a single-site, two-arm, parallel, randomized controlled efficacy trial conducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), building on the Alabama Womb to Heart Solution (AW2H) feasibility/acceptability pilot (NCT06353256, N=61). Postpartum patients with pregnancy-associated hypertension (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, hypertension with superimposed preeclampsia, or hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count \[HELLP\] syndrome) or stage 2 hypertension (systolic blood pressure \[SBP\] \>=140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure \[DBP\] \>=90 mmHg)…
Inclusion Criteria: * Postpartum patients with pregnancy-associated hypertension (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, hypertension with superimposed preeclampsia, or hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count \[HELLP\] syndrome) or stage 2 hypertension per American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines (systolic blood pressure \[SBP\] \>=140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure \[DBP\] \>=90 mmHg) on two separate occasions at delivery-related hospital discharge or during the postpartum period * Delivered in the last six weeks at \>=14…
Six-month community health worker (CHW) program delivered in partnership with ConnectionHealth. Visit/contact frequency: Approximately 2 times/week for weeks 1-5, weekly for weeks 6-12, and monthly for weeks 13-26; visits may be in person or virtual (phone/video). CHWs coach home blood pressure monitoring with American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)-concordant escalation guidance, reinforce antihypertensive medication adherence, educate on postpartum danger signs and long-term cardiovascular risk, remind about postpartum and pediatric visits, counsel on breastfeeding and contraception, coach on American Heart Association (AHA) Life's Essential 8 behaviors, assist with scheduling and attending a primary care appointment, provide mother-baby guidance (safe sleep, immunizations, developmental milestones), and offer trauma-informed emotional support.
Standardized self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) education and a pregnancy-validated iHealth blood pressure (BP) Cuff Kit provided before hospital discharge, plus written educational materials on hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and other adverse pregnancy outcomes, long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, and postpartum danger signs.