Feasibility of a blood pressure telemedicine program in the virtual age

Despite strong evidence for maintaining blood pressure (BP) < 130/80 for secondary stroke prevention, there have been many barriers toward achieving this goal. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of a new physician-led BP telemedicine program on the improvement of BP and medication compliance in stroke survivors.

We prospectively enrolled patients with a history of stroke and hypertension into this BP telemedicine program where participants were paired with a physician for one-on-one counseling. Participants submitted daily recordings of their BP as well as completed surveys assessing the usability of the program (Marshfield Usability Survey) and medication compliance (Morisky Medication Adherence Scale). A repeated measures ANOVA was utilized to examine differences in BP recordings at enrollment, 3 months, and 6 months.

Due to an interruption of external funding only 27 patients were ultimately enrolled (4/25/22-10/15/23). There were significant differences over time for both systolic (p = 0.022) and diastolic (p = 0.007) BP, however these differences were seen only between the enrollment and 6-month timepoint in follow-up testing. Participants rated the program highly favorably across multiple categories, commenting on the ease of using the program and feeling confident in the system. There was also an observed reduction in reported barriers to taking medications.

This pilot program demonstrated the feasibility of managing BP using a telemedicine approach. A minimum of 6 months was required to see significant differences in BP as well as trends toward improvements in medication compliance. These results have an impact in how similar remote programs should be designed for future evaluations of this patient population.