Stroke Health and Risk Education (SHARE)

The study is a randomized, parallel group, behavioral intervention trial designed to reduce stroke risk. The assembled investigative team has outstanding relevant experience in epidemiology, behavioral intervention, health services clinical trials, and medicine. The target populations are Mexican Americans (MA) and European Americans (EA) living in a medium size U.S. city, Corpus Christi, Texas. We have extensive experience conducting research in this community. In fact we have run two highly successful, NIH-funded projects in Corpus Christi. The proposed study is a true partnership of investigators from the University of Michigan, who have worked in this community for 14 years, and the Diocese of Corpus Christi. The primary outcome in this stroke prevention project will include key stroke risk factors: sodium intake, fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity. Churches have been recruited (100% cooperation rate) and will be randomized to intervention and control groups. A theory-based, scientific, rigorous, behavioral intervention was carefully crafted. In addition to theory and investigators' experience in this community, project development involved a pilot study of risk factor data collection from Church goers, and detailed focus groups from a different group of Church members and clergy. Specific aim: To test the effectiveness of a culturally-sensitive, church-based, multicomponent, behavioral intervention for Mexican Americans and European Americans in reducing important behavioral and biological stroke risk factors. Hypothesis 1: Participants randomized to the intervention group will have more optimized behavioral risk factors including a greater reduction in sodium intake, greater increase in dietary fruit and vegetable intake, and greater increase in physical activity than those in the control group (primary outcome). Hypothesis 2: Participants randomized to the intervention group will have a greater reduction in systolic blood pressure than those in the control group (secondary outcome). Hypothesis 3: Participants randomized to the intervention group will have greater reductions in other stroke risk factors such as diastolic blood pressure, fasting serum glucose, body mass index, fasting LDL cholesterol and greater increases in HDL cholesterol than those in the control group (exploratory outcomes). Hypothesis 4: In exploratory analysis, there will be no interaction between intervention group and ethnicity within a culturally-sensitive, church-based, multicomponent, behavioral intervention to alter sodium intake, fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity level.