A village doctor-led mobile health… | BMJ

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70/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 70 out of 100. Prevention and risk

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Plain-language summary

Results Enrolment took place between March 2023 and May 2023. Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed larger reductions in lifetime ASCVD risk (−15.9% v −11.0%; difference −4.59%; Plt;0.001), systolic blood pressure (−23.2 mm Hg v −15.2 mm Hg; difference −7.64 mm Hg; Plt;0.001), diastolic blood pressure (−10.9 mm Hg v −6.9 mm Hg; difference: −3.59 mm Hg; Plt;0.001), fasting blood glucose (−0.9 mmol/L v −0.5 mmol/L; difference −0.30 mmol/L; P=0.008), proportion of daily smokers (−3.1% v −0.6%; odds ratio 0.60, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.84; P=0.003), and insufficient physical activity (−3.0% v 1.3%; odds ratio 0.63, 0.42 to 0.95; P=0.03). No significant differences were observed for change in non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol or proportion of participants with obesity.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: High

This is a trial of 4,533 participants. This trial tested a village doctor-led mobile health intervention in rural China and found improvements in cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, blood glucose and smoking, with no significant change in cholesterol or obesity. Reported effect size: 99.4%; 18.0% to 11.7%; 17.8% to 13.6%.

Taken from this record’s own fields, not from reading the paper. The grade is assigned from the abstract’s wording; what that means.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Zhang, X., Wang, S., Zhou, X., Tang, Y., Xing, L., Ma, S., et al. (2025). A village doctor-led mobile health intervention for cardiovascular risk reduction in rural China: cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082765

Vancouver

Zhang X, Wang S, Zhou X, Tang Y, Xing L, Ma S, et al. A village doctor-led mobile health intervention for cardiovascular risk reduction in rural China: cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2025. doi:10.1136/bmj-2024-082765. PMID: 40425261.

BibTeX

@article{zhang2025-40425261,
  author  = {Zhang, Xingyi and Wang, Siming and Zhou, Xingyu and Tang, Ya‐Jie and Xing, Liying and Ma, Shaoning and Yan, Xu and Wu, Chaoqun and others},
  title   = {{A village doctor-led mobile health intervention for cardiovascular risk reduction in rural China: cluster randomised controlled trial}},
  journal = {BMJ},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1136/bmj-2024-082765},
  pmid    = {40425261},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082765}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

How to read this study

Design: this is a trial. Participants are assigned to a treatment or a comparison, so the key questions are who was enrolled, whether the comparison group got a placebo or nothing, how long people were followed, and whether the result is on a measure that matters to patients or on a biomarker. Open-label and small trials can overstate benefit.
Size: the record lists 4,533 participants. Ask whether that is enough for the question, and who they were.
Effect: the record reports “99.4%; 18.0% to 11.7%; 17.8% to 13.6%”. A statistically significant result can still be small in daily life.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded high. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. High means the abstract mentions a randomized design, a meta-analysis or a systematic review. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

New to reading papers? Six questions to ask of any Alzheimer’s study · how we score.

Key findings

Results Enrolment took place between March 2023 and May 2023.
Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed larger reductions in lifetime ASCVD risk (−15.9% v −11.0%; difference −4.59%; Plt;0.001), systolic blood pressure (−23.2 mm Hg v −15.2 mm Hg; difference −7.64 mm Hg; Plt;0.001), diastolic blood pressure (−10.9 mm Hg v −6.9 mm Hg; difference: −3.59 mm Hg; Plt;0.001), fasting blood glucose (−0.9 mmol/L v −0.5 mmol/L; difference −0.30 mmol/L; P=0.008), proportion of daily smokers (−3.1% v −0.6%; odds ratio 0.60, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.84; P=0.003), and insufficient physical activity (−3.0% v 1.3%; odds ratio 0.63, 0.42 to 0.95; P=0.03).
No significant differences were observed for change in non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol or proportion of participants with obesity.

Why it matters

This trial tested a village doctor-led mobile health intervention in rural China and found improvements in cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, blood glucose and smoking, with no significant change in cholesterol or obesity. It did not measure any effect on Alzheimer's disease, dementia or cognition.

New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Prevention →

Study details

Study designrandomized controlled trial
Participants4,533
Effect size99.4%; 18.0% to 11.7%; 17.8% to 13.6%
Evidence strengthHigh

How this study scored 70/100

Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a randomized controlled trial.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (BMJ)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	BMJ: journal h-index 413 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	11 / 12	A randomized controlled trial
Strength of evidence	5 / 5	Rated “high” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	4 / 5	2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	3 / 4	4,533 participants
Effect reported	2 / 3	Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	1 / 2	Randomized (as stated in the record)
Times cited	2 / 7	Cited 13 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	2 / 5	4.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 11.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	1 / 4	Cited 13 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	3 / 4	Last-listed author Xi Li: h-index 50 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College: institution h-index 950 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40425261)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	70 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

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