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Telemonitoring: use in the management of hypertension
Darshi Sivakumaran1, Kenneth Anthony Earle2
1Thomas Addison Unit, St George's Hospital, London, UK.
Insights
Telemonitoring shows promise for improving blood pressure control in hypertension patients, potentially enhancing care. Further research is needed to confirm long-term benefits and address adoption concerns.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Medical Technology
- Public Health
Background:
- Hypertension remains a significant modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular, retinal, and kidney diseases.
- Despite increased efforts, blood pressure control rates remain low (<11%) in the UK and US.
- Technological advancements in monitoring and data transmission are changing patient-provider dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of telemonitoring systems in managing hypertension.
- To explore the potential of telemonitoring to improve blood pressure control and patient adherence.
- To assess telemonitoring's role in addressing healthcare needs of aging populations and health inequalities.
Main Methods:
- Review of growing evidence on telemonitoring for hypertension management.
- Analysis of studies comparing telemonitoring with usual care.
- Ongoing research investigating long-term utility, cost-benefit, and patient quality of life.
Main Results:
- Telemonitoring appears more effective than usual care in improving blood pressure control in the short-to-medium term.
- Potential benefits include increased patient choice and improved treatment adherence.
- Evidence suggests telemonitoring could help manage aging populations and reduce health inequalities.
Conclusions:
- Telemonitoring offers a promising approach to enhance hypertension management and improve blood pressure control rates.
- Further investigation is required regarding technology reliability, long-term effectiveness, patient quality of life, and cost-benefit.
- Wider adoption of telemonitoring for hypertension necessitates addressing these outstanding concerns.
Abstract:
Hypertension is a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular, retinal, and kidney disease. In the past decade, attainment rates of treatment targets for blood pressure control in the UK and US have increased; however, <11% of adult men and women have achieved adequate blood pressure control. Technological advances in blood pressure measurement and data transmission may improve the capture of information but also alter the relationship between the patient and the provider of care. Telemonitoring systems can be used to manage patients with hypertension, and have the ability to enable best-practice decisions more consistently. The improvement in choice for patients as to where and who manages their hypertension, as well as better adherence to treatment, are potential benefits. An evidence base is growing that shows that telemonitoring can be more effective than usual care in improving attainment rates of goal blood pressure in the short-to-medium term. In addition, studies are in progress to assess whether this technology could be a part of the solution to address the health care needs of an aging population and improve access for those suffering health inequalities. The variation in methods and systems used in these studies make generalizability to the general hypertension population difficult. Concerns over the reliability of technology, impact on patient quality of life, longer-term utility and cost-benefit analyses all need to be investigated further if wider adoption is to occur.
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