Remote patient monitoring can help patients with hypertension manage their blood pressure at home. In fact, integrating this technology into patient care proved more effective than normal practice at lowering blood pressure for up to 12 months after completing a telemonitoring program, according to study results published in JAMA.
Researchers from the HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research in Minneapolis and the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle enrolled 228 patients with hypertension in a telemonitoring program and 222 patients to usual hypertension care.
For the telemonitoring program, a pharmacist reviewed and managed data from patients' home blood pressure monitors for 12 months to better inform their treatment.
Fifty-four weeks after the intervention started, patients in the telemonitoring program reported a 2.5-millimeter Hg decrease in systolic blood pressure and a 1-millimeter Hg decrease in diastolic blood pressure. The difference in blood pressure between the intervention group and the usual care group was most significant at 12 months after the intervention's end, according to the study authors.
"The [systolic blood pressure] and [diastolic blood pressure] results from routine clinical measurements suggested significantly lower [blood pressure] in the intervention group for up to 24 months," the study authors concluded. "Long-term maintenance of [blood pressure] control is likely to require continued monitoring and resumption of the intervention if [blood pressure] increases."