High blood pressure, often referred to as “hypertension,” affects approximately 75 million adults in the United States. It increases the risk of other serious health conditions, such as stroke, heart attack, kidney disease and chronic heart failure. Despite the fact that more than hundreds of thousands of people die each year from problems caused by hypertension, only about 50% of people with high blood pressure have it under control.
A home-based approach to controlling hypertension
Thanks to new research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a new home-based approach to managing high blood pressure may change the healthcare game.
For the study, the researchers recruited 130 people who had hypertension that wasn’t under control. They taught them all to use a Bluetooth-enabled device that could measure their blood pressure in the comfort of their home. They were told to do it twice a day, in duplicate. In less than two months, 81% of the participants had their hypertension under control!
Why the home-based approach works
The program works for a few reasons. First, the readings from the device would transmit the measurements directly into the participants’ electronic medical records. Second, all the participants had a patient navigator. These patient navigators had been trained on the use of specially designed clinical algorithms, which help assess the person and confirm that they’re getting the right amount of medication.
This approach could not only reduce the costs of controlling high blood pressure but also help prevent the risk of other hypertension-related health problems.
“Development of innovative solutions to manage hypertension effectively and efficiently, and thus reduce the cardiovascular risk burden in larger populations, is critical,” says Dr. Naomi Fisher, director of Hypertension Services and the Hypertension Specialty Clinic at the Brigham. “Organizations can and should develop and adopt innovative technologies to create sustainable solutions for the control of hypertension.”
