A culturally adapted telecommunication system to improve physical activity, diet quality, and medication adherence...

Hypertension is more prevalent and clinically severe among African-Americans than whites. Several health behaviors influence blood pressure (BP) control, but effective, accessible, culturally sensitive interventions that target multiple behaviors are lacking.

We evaluated a culturally adapted, automated telephone system to help hypertensive, urban African-American adults improve their adherence to their antihypertensive medication regimen and to evidence-based guidelines for dietary behavior and physical activity.

We randomized 337 hypertensive primary care patients to an 8-month automated, multi-behavior intervention or to an education-only control. Medication adherence, diet, physical activity, and BP were assessed at baseline and every 4 months for 1 year. Data were analyzed using longitudinal modeling.

The intervention was associated with improvements in a measure of overall diet quality (+3.5 points, p < 0.03) and in energy expenditure (+80 kcal/day, p < 0.03). A decrease in systolic BP between groups was not statistically significant (-2.3 mmHg, p = 0.25).

Given their convenience, scalability, and ability to deliver tailored messages, automated telecommunications systems can promote self-management of diet and energy balance in urban African-Americans.