The clinical effects of a new management mode for hypertensive patients: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: The Internet, smartphones, and the application of health technology have great potential for hypertension management. We aim to evaluate a new mode of mobile health management with a social network application to guide blood pressure management in patients with hypertension. METHODS: Using a randomized controlled trial design, 120 hypertensive patients in the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University who volunteered to participate in the study were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group was divided into low, middle, or high-risk groups according to the cardiovascular risk stratification. The blood pressures of both the experimental group (the WeChat-guided new mode group) and the control group (the conventional mode group) were administered for three months. RESULTS: With intervention, both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P=0.016). The SBP and DBP of the experimental group after intervention were lower than those before intervention (P<0.001), which was not observed in the control group (P=0.056). There was no difference in the SBP drops in the low-risk, middle-risk, and high-risk groups (P=0.402). Similarly, no difference in DBP drop was observed (P=0.628). There were no differences in Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool (CPAT) scores between the experimental group and the control group before intervention (P=0.509). After intervention, CPAT scores in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.001). Before intervention, there was no significant difference in the Hypertension Patients Self-Management Behavior Rating Scale (HPSMBRS) scores, blood lipid, body mass index (BMI), and urinary microalbumin between the experimental group and the control group (P>0.05). After intervention, the HPSMBRS score in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). The HPSMBRS score of the experimental group after intervention was higher than before intervention, and BMI, urinary microalbumin, TC, LDL-C were lower than before intervention (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This new mode of mobile health management has a good effect on blood pressure control in patients with hypertension. It provides evidence for the application of mobile information technology for hypertension patients in clinical practice.