A pilot study of hypertension management using a telemedicine treatment approach

We recruited 78 men and 94 women to investigate if the proportion of subjects with well-controlled home blood pressure levels could be increased when treatment was guided by smartphone-based telemonitoring. All patients were prescribed one to three antihypertensive drugs. The Accumbo smartphone telemonitoring application was downloaded to the Iphones of the participants and home blood pressure information was gathered from semi-automatic oscillometric blood pressure-recorders by Bluetooth. The study physician adjusted the medications based on home blood pressure for 3 months. home blood pressure was controlled (<135/<85 mmHg) in 55 participants at baseline and in 56 subjects after 3 months (Chi-square P = 0.91). The 117 patients with initially uncontrolled home blood pressure had a drop in home blood pressure (from 138.0 ± 9.0/91.3 ± 6.5 mmHg to 133.4 ± 8.0/88.6 ± 6.1 mmHg, P < 0.001) and prescribed antihypertensive drugs increased from 1.71 ± 0.94/day to 2.00 ± 0.92/day, P < 0.0001. Thus, while the proportion of participants with controlled home blood pressure remained unchanged, the home blood pressure levels were lowered in participants who had uncontrolled home blood pressure at study start