Patients who use telemonitoring to manage their hypertension and titrate their own medication doses see improvements in systolic blood pressure, researchers found.
Such patients saw a significantly greater reduction in mean systolic blood pressure at six months and a year compared with patients who received standard care (P=0.013 and P=0.0004, respectively) Richard J. McManus, FRCGP, of the University of Birmingham in England, and colleagues reported online in The Lancet.
"These findings seem to be the result of an increase in the number of antihypertensive drugs prescribed according to a simple titration plan," they wrote. "Thus, self-management represents an important new addition to the control of hypertension in primary care."
Only about half of patients being treated for hypertension have achieved current recommended levels, which leaves room for other interventions to lower blood pressure, such as patient self-management. Trials of this strategy have shown it to be effective, the researchers noted.
Another strategy is self-titration, in which patients make changes in their medication according to response and based on a pre-agreed formula. This has been tested only on a small scale, the researchers said, but the model has been successful in patients with conditions such as asthma and diabetes.
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