Effect of a mobile-based educational app on blood pressure of patients with hypertension

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is known as one of the most important non-communicable pervasive diseases. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of a mobile-based educational app on the blood pressure (BP) of patients with hypertension. METHODS: This clinical trial was conducted on 66 military personnel who were definitively diagnosed with hypertension by a physician, and then assigned randomly into two groups as intervention (receiving mobile-based educational app) and control (receiving standard medical management but no app). Before the intervention, BP levels of both groups were measured with a calibrated sphygmomanometer. After 6 weeks, the BPs of both groups were remeasured using the same sphygmomanometer. Thereafter, descriptive and inferential statistics, including paired t-test, Mann-Whitney, Chi-square and Wilcoxon tests, were used. The data obtained were analysed using SPSS-21 software at a significance level of p<0.05. RESULTS: Comparison of the intervention and control groups showed no statistically significant difference between the groups in systolic BP (p=0.479) and diastolic BP (p=0.851) in the pre-intervention phase, but after the intervention, systolic and diastolic BP levels were significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the mobile-based educational app had a significant effect on reducing BP in patients with hypertension. Therefore, using this app is recommended for those military personnel with hypertension.