Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Colour coded client segmentation (CCCS) public health approach to educate the community to deal with problem of hypertension: A pilot study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Sudip Bhattacharya
. Sheikh Mohd Saleem 1
. Dhananjay Kumar Singh 2
. Roy Rillera Marzo 3
. Amarjeet Singh 4

1 Demonstrator, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India

2 Department of Community Medicine, Heritage Institute of Medical Sciences, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India,

3 Deputy Dean, Asia Metropolitan University, Johor, Malaysia,

4 Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: We know that risk communication is equally important as risk identification, which
is usually not communicated properly to the patients and resulting in poor outcomes, especially in
hypertensive patients.
OBJECTIVE: Our study objective was to evolve and test a colour coded client segmentation based
public health approach to educate the community to deal with problem of hypertension.
METHODOLOGY: This cross‑sectional pilot study was done in March 2020 among purposively approached
in a primary health centre to 100 people aged above 18 years, among them 41 gave written consent for the
study and their demographic information was noted. They were given colour coded cards as per the current
blood pressure level and previous history of hypertension. On each colour coded card, specific advice
was written for that category. For all the participants, blood pressure and treatment seeking behaviour was
noted. For hypertensive patients, adherence to medication and non‑pharmacological measures was noted.
RESULTS: Mean age of the participants was 46.5 ± 13.06 years. Mean systolic blood pressure (SBP)
and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of the participants were 135 ± 16.85 mm Hg and 86 ± 11.42
mm Hg, respectively. Among the participants, 10 (24.39%) had a known history of hypertension.
Among them, as per the blood pressure levels measured on the day of the study 50% (5) had their
blood pressure levels under control. Interestingly 16 (39%) participants were found hypertensive
incidentally.
DISCUSSION: It is evident from the studies that colour coded approach is used in multiple ways, in
multiple settings, for multiple diseases. To our knowledge, little focus has been given for hypertensive
disorders in the community level. We merely bother about making their risk profiling, even in the
digital age. Sometimes physicians in emergency become puzzled whenever patients collapsed in front
of them and we missed the “Golden Hour” for the treatment by searching patients’ medical details.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The above problem can be solved by risk profiling of
chronic patients by colour coded OPD/Health cards.

Keywords

Client segmentation
health promotion
hypertension
risk prediction
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 11, Issue 1
January 2021
Pages 1-5

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