RESULS
Baseline characteristics of participants
A total of 403 participants (203 intervention and 200 controls) were recruited from 10 PHCs. Most of them were women (76.7%), and the mean age was 61.3±9.6 years. Duration of diabetes was on average 9.2±7.1 years. Twenty patients were current smokers (4.9%) and alcohol drinkers (6.9%) complications were common, as 247 (61.2%) had hypertension and 146 (36.2%) had dyslipidemia. Characteristics of both groups were similar, except marital status and systolic blood pressure (SBP). The mean SBP was slightly higher in the intervention group (P=0.012) (table 1)
Overall, 378 participants (194 intervention vs. 184 controls) completed the 6-month follow-up. Of 25 participants lost to follow-up, 12 moved to another province, six transferred to the other hospitals, five could not be contacted, and two had died (not related to the research) (Fig.1). Characteristics of 25 patients lost to follow up did not differ from the rest of the sample.