Phone-based Intervention Under Nurse Guidance After Stroke 2

January 14, 2026 updated by: Bruce Ovbiagele, Northern California Institute of Research and Education
The overall objective of Phone-based Intervention under Nurse Guidance after Stroke II (PINGS-2) is to deploy a hybrid study design to firstly, demonstrate the efficacy of a theoretical-model-based, mHealth technology-centered, nurse-led, multi-level integrated approach to substantially improve longer term BP control among 500 recent stroke patients encountered at 10 hospitals in Ghana. Secondly, PINGS II seeks to develop an implementation strategy for routine integration and policy adoption of mhealth for post-stroke BP control in a LMIC setting. The investigators will leverage experience gained from the NIH Global Brain Disorders funded R21 pilot study (NS094033) to test efficacy of a refined, culturally-tailored, and potentially implementable intervention aimed at addressing the premier modifiable risk for stroke & other key variables in an under-resourced system burdened by suboptimal care & outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

500

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

      • Aboaso, Ghana
        • Ankaase Methodist Hospital
      • Accra, Ghana
        • Korle Bu Teaching Hospital
      • Agogo, Ghana
        • Agogo Presbyterian Hospital
      • Cape Coast, Ghana
        • Cape Coast Teaching Hospital
      • Kumasi, Ghana
        • Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
      • Kumasi, Ghana
        • Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
      • Kumasi, Ghana
        • Kumasi South Hospital
      • Kumasi, Ghana
        • Kwadaso SDA Hospital
      • Kumasi, Ghana
        • Manhyia Government Hospital
      • Kumasi, Ghana
        • Tafo Government Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 100 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age ≥ 18 years (stroke is commoner above this age cut-off)
  • male or females (sex is a biologic variable of interest)
  • recent stroke (within one month of symptom onset)- stroke may be ischemic or hemorrhagic based on brain imaging or diagnosed clinically using the locally validated version of the 8-item questionnaire for verifying stroke free status (8-QVSFS) when neuroimaging is not feasible
  • uncontrolled HTN (SBP ≥ 140 mmHg at both the last clinical encounter post-stroke and the eligibility screening visit) - SBP is used as the selection variable since most African hypertensives <60 years have systolic or combination systolic/ diastolic HTN and for most patients, controlling SBP also results in DBP control
  • patients or family carers should own a basic mobile phone that can receive text/audio messages.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Any condition that would limit participation in follow up assessments, such as severe cognitive impairment/dementia (MMSE ≤24).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: PINGS 2

Participants received a 12-month, multicomponent, nurse-led intervention in addition to usual post-stroke care. The intervention included:

Home blood pressure monitoring at least weekly with nurse follow-up for threshold breaches.

Mobile phone medication reminders (daily alarms set on the participant's own device).

Weekly audio health education messages in local dialects emphasizing stroke risk factor control and medication adherence.

Nurse navigators provided case management, coordinated clinic visits as needed, and tracked blood pressure readings and adherence.

Home BP monitoring, medication reminders using phone alerts, and patient education on hypertension, cardiovascular risk reduction & stroke
Active Comparator: Standard of Care

Participants received standard secondary prevention after stroke according to local guidelines. This typically included periodic physician follow-up, antihypertensive therapy, antiplatelets, and statins prescribed at the clinician's discretion.

To maintain contact frequency similar to the intervention group, participants received neutral lifestyle text messages unrelated to hypertension or stroke prevention.

Standard of Care (routine post-stroke management per guidelines)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Systolic Blood Pressure
Time Frame: 12 months
Target goal of <140/90 mmHg measured at baseline, months 3, 6, 9 and 12. Measured by blinded evaluator using an automated BP monitor.
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events
Time Frame: 12 months
Major Adverse Cardiovascular events (MACE) to be assessed include recurrent stroke: fatal/ severely disabling stroke or non-fatal stroke; Coronary Artery Disease: Acute STEMI/NSTEMI, sudden cardiac deaths. MACE will be confirmed by a blinded adjudicator by reviewing where available clinical notes supported by investigations e.g. CT scan, EKGs, review of death certificates or verbal autopsy if death occurs outside hospital.
12 months
Self-management
Time Frame: 12 months
Hypertension Self-Care Profile (HBP-SCP) Total Score, a validated measure assessing hypertension self-management across three domains: behavior, motivation, and self-efficacy. Each subscale ranges from 20 to 80, yielding a total score range of 60 to 240. Higher scores indicate better self-care. Month 12 total scores are reported.
12 months
Number of Cardiovascular ED Encounters and Re-hospitalizations
Time Frame: 12 months

To be assessed via once monthly calls to patients and/or carers over 12 months of follow up in both the PINGS and usual care groups.

Patient carers in both arms will also be encouraged to contact study team within 48 hours of hospitalizations for prompt and blinded adjudication of all potential CVD ED encounters to minimize reporting bias between the two groups.

12 months
Health-related Quality of Life: The Euro Quality of Life-5D Questionnaire
Time Frame: 12 months
The EQ-5D questionnaire,186 will assess state of health of study participants at baseline and Month 12. Scores range from 0 (the worst possible health status) to 100 (the best possible health status).
12 months
Medication Adherence: Hill-Bone Compliance Scale
Time Frame: 12 months
Hill-Bone Compliance to High Blood Pressure Therapy Scale, a validated 14-item measure assessing adherence to antihypertensive therapy across three domains: medication-taking behavior, appointment keeping, and salt intake. Total scores range from 14 to 56, with higher scores indicating worse adherence (greater non-adherence). Month 12 total scores are reported.
12 months
Medication Adherence: Medication Possession Ratio (MPR)
Time Frame: 12 months
Medication Possession Ratio (MPR), calculated as the percentage of days covered by filled antihypertensive prescriptions over 12 months. Values range from 0% to 100%, with higher values indicating better adherence. Month 12 MPR values are reported.
12 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health Literacy in HPT/Stroke
Time Frame: 12 months
Self-Report: HTN/stroke Knowledge questionnaire (r=.70) Health literacy questionnaire (r = .74, .82) Assessed at months 0, 6,12. Higher scores indicate higher health literacy. Scales 1-5 are scored on a 4-point Likert-type response scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree) and scales 6-9 are scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale with response options focusing on difficulty (cannot do or always difficult, usually difficult, sometimes difficult, usually easy, always easy). Month 12 is reported.
12 months
Disability/Functional Status
Time Frame: 12 months
Functional status after stroke will be assessed by Research Assistants using the Modified Rankin Scale with a scores ranging from 0 to 6, where 0=no functional limitation and 6 = death. Assessed at months 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12.
12 months
Sex, Cultural, Socio-economic Factors, Study Site
Time Frame: Baseline
Assessed based on self reports at baseline. Cultural factors to assess include language spoken at home, religious observances, acceptance of gender roles; occupation, religious beliefs and dietary practices.
Baseline
Baseline Age
Time Frame: Baseline
Mean age of participants at enrollment, reported in years. Age is a continuous baseline characteristic and is therefore reported separately from categorical sociodemographic variables. Higher values indicate older age.
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 23, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 5, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

April 5, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 21, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 26, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

May 27, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 14, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 20-30016
  • 5R01HL152188-05 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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