New Home Blood Pressure Telemonitoring System in an Aged Community: Protocol of the Digital Cardiovascular Prevention Feasibility Study

Objective: We sought to (i) determine the precise feasibility of a new telemonitoring-based healthcare system in a community of aged individuals and (ii) clarify the clinical implications of blood pressure variabilities in a time series until the end of life for the management of hypertension in elderly patients. Design and method: We have devised a simple, easy-to-use blood-pressure monitoring system and automated telemonitoring system, i.e., the DICAP (DIgital Cardiovascular Prevention) system, that obtains all of the different blood pressure values measured in a time series in different settings in community-dwelling elderly individuals in their homes and other facilities. Results: The feasibility of the DICAP system was confirmed by the successful serial transmission of the home blood pressure data of the community-dwelling hypertensive patients including those who were not familiar with digital technology and those who resided at different community locations. Among the first-recruited 221 subjects, 92.3% have been monitoring their blood pressure with the DICAP >12 times/week. Conclusions: The newly developed DICAP system using a cellular blood-pressure monitoring device suggests the possibility of being feasible and acceptable for the management of hypertension among elderly community-living individuals.