Benchmark- Research Critique and Picot Statement Final Draft

Running head: QUANTITATIVE ARTICLE CRITIQUE 1

Quantitative Article Critique

Name: Idalmis Espinosa

Institution: Grand Canyon University

Course: NRS-433V Introduction to Nursing Research

Date: 05/06/17

Quantitative Article Critique

Summary of Article Topic

In “Tea consumption is inversely related to 5-year blood pressure change among adults in Jiangsu, China: A cross-sectional study,” Tong, Taylor, Giles, Wittert, and Shi (2014) set out to the impact that tea consumption has on blood pressure change. In this particular study, the authors performed their study among adults in Jiangsu, China over a period of five years. High blood pressure (also known as hypertension) does not usually present any symptoms and it contributes to the death of many people throughout the world. There is need to find effective ways of managing the condition to save lives. Proper identification and management of the lifestyle risk factors associated with hypertension could significantly help to lower blood pressure (Burns & Grove, 2011).

Background of the Study

As noted, high blood pressure contributes to the deaths of many people throughout the world and there is therefore need to ensure proper management of the condition. Health care experts should devise effective interventions to ensure effective control of the condition. Making some lifestyle adjustments (diet changes and participating regularly in physical activity) could help in managing the risk factors associated with the condition as that helps to lower blood pressure. More importantly, individuals should ensure to perform regular screening and adhering to treatment. Caregivers should also ensure to communicate effectively with patients as well as to monitor them on a regular basis. In this case, the researchers noted that there was inconsistent data with regard to the connection between the consumption of tea and change in blood pressure (Tong, Taylor, Giles, Wittert & Shi, 2014). The main purpose of undertaking this study was to explore how consumption of tea causes change in BP among Chinese adult population over a 5-year period. Readers should care about this study because hypertension is a condition that is fatal and does not usually present any signs and symptoms in most cases. In addition, readers should note that hypertension contributes to a host of health complications such as loss of vision, kidney disease, stroke, and diabetes, heart complications/failure, and peripheral vascular disease, among others. Therefore, hypertensive patients should strive to manage their conditions to avert the risks associated with the condition, most of which are not only expensive to treat, but also quite fatal. The authors have not explicitly provided the questions for this research, but they were focused on finding out the quantity of tea that the participants consume each week and the effect that such consumption has on their blood pressure. In my view, the research questions are related to the purpose that the researchers have for this study.

Method of Study

The benefit of participating in this study is that the participants get an opportunity to check their health status as far as hypertension is concerned and getting into a program that will enable them to know how to effectively control and manage their hypertension through diet (in this case, the consumption of tea). According to Tong, Taylor, Giles, Wittert, and Shi (2014), tea is helpful in controlling hypertension because it contains numerous chemical substances and antioxidants (such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, polyphenols, caffeine, theanine, and theophylline) that contribute to inflammation and diabetes. The authors indicate that they ensured to obtain informed and written consent from all their subjects in that study. It seems that the subjects participated voluntarily in this study because the health workers interviewed them in their homes with a standard questionnaire. The researchers conducted this study as per the guidelines set by the Declaration of Helsinki. Besides, the Jiangsu Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention approved all the procedures/methods that the researchers used in the study. Tea consumption was a continuous variable in this study. Other variables include smoking, diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure. Qualified caregivers used a standard questionnaire to collect the data through interviews at the homes of the participants. The researchers validated this data collection method by stating that it is useful for collecting face-to-face interview information. The data was collected from 1109 Chinese men and 637 Chinese women between 2002 and 2007. The researchers collected the information for their research over a five-year period. The analysis of data relating to food consumption was completed using the Chinese Food Composition Table and STATA 12 was used to perform all the analyses. There is no information explaining how the researchers maintained rigor of their study. The study also used ANOVA to compare differences of continuous variables. To limit information bias, the study involved intensively trained health workers in the data collection and management work.

Results of the Study

Findings of this study show that there was an inverse/converse association between total tea consumption with the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) over a 5-year period, but there was no systolic blood pressure (SBP) change. The multivariable analysis indicated that those who consumed daily total tea at a minimum of 10g had 2.41-mmHg while those who did not had 3.68-mmHg smaller increase (Tong, Taylor, Giles, Wittert & Shi, 2014). I think the findings that the researchers have for this study present an accurate manifestation of the reality and so I think that in the findings of the research are credible. One major limitation noted in this study is that there was omission in the collection of the baseline for tea consumption in 2002. In addition, follow-up was difficult to maintain because of the somewhat high attrition rate of loss. There was coherent logic presentation of the findings, which are quite valuable especially in nursing practice and education. The researchers have not made any suggestions for further research.

Ethical Considerations

The researchers conducted this study as per the guidelines set by the Declaration of Helsinki. In addition, the Jiangsu Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention approved all the methods used in this study (Tong, Taylor, Giles, Wittert & Shi, 2014). The study does not explicitly mention about patient protection, but from the manner in which the researchers interacted with the participants suggests that there was protection of their privacy. There was ethical consideration of the participants regarding their treatment.

Conclusion

This investigation shows that the drinking green tea has a converse association with change of blood pressure among Chinese adults over a 5-year period. This study is important because it shows that caregivers can significantly control and manage hypertension through diet, and in particular, the consumption of tea in lowering the blood pressure in patients with the condition (Tong, Taylor, Giles, Wittert & Shi, 2014). By implementing this intervention, caregivers would be able to help many hypertensive patients to manage their health conditions more effectively (Burns & Grove, 2011).

References

Burns, N., & Grove, S. (2011).Understanding nursing research (5thed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Tong, X., Taylor, A. W., Giles, L., Wittert, G. A., Shi, Z. (2014). Tea consumption is inversely related to 5-year blood pressure change among adults in Jiangsu, China: A cross-sectional study. Nutrition Journal,13(98). Retrieved from 10.1186/1475-2891-13-98.