ATLANTA – Patients receiving telemonitoring along with highblood pressure management support from a pharmacist were morelikely to lower their blood pressure than those without thesupport, according to research presented at the American HeartAssociation's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research ScientificSessions 2012. "Patients with high blood pressure visit physicians an averageof four times each year, yet blood pressure is controlled in onlyabout half of U.S. patients," said Karen Margolis, MD, thestudy's lead author and director of clinical research ofHealthPartners Research Foundation in Bloomington, Minn. "Welooked at how the addition of a pharmacist-led, at-hometelemonitoring program might improve patients' blood pressurecontrol." [See also: HEALTHeLINK to pilot diabetes telemonitoring ] Margolis and colleagues studied 450 patients with uncontrolled highblood pressure. Approximately half (222) of the patients wereassigned to traditional care through their primary care providers.The other half (228 in the intervention group) saw a primary careprovider and received additional high blood pressure management andtelemonitoring support from a pharmacist. The intervention patients measured their blood pressure at home andsent the readings electronically to a secure website. Participatingpharmacists accessed the information and consulted the patientsevery two to four weeks by phone. All 450 patients came to a special research clinic to have theirblood pressure measured at the beginning of the study, and 403 ofthem were seen again after six months, Margolis said. [See also: Telemonitoring to boost ICU care for South Carolina hospital ] Key findings: Six months into the study, 45.2 percent of participants in thetraditional care group and 71.8 percent in the telemonitoringintervention had reduced their blood pressure to healthy levelsunder 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in most patients, andunder 130/80 mm Hg in those with diabetes or kidney disease. Blood pressure decreased more in the telemonitoring group. At thestart of the study, patients' blood pressures averaged 148/85 mmHg. At six months, the average was 126/76 mm Hg in thetelemonitoring intervention and 138/82 mm Hg in the traditionalcare group. Patients in the telemonitoring group received more high bloodpressure medicines after six months than patients in thetraditional care group. Patients in the telemonitoring group reported that they were betterat remembering to take their medications consistently than those inthe traditional care group. "These early results suggest that home blood pressuretelemonitoring with extra telephone care by a pharmacist was veryeffective in improving blood pressure control," Margolis said."If these early results can be sustained over the long run, itmight decrease the number of patients who suffer heart attacks,strokes or other complication of high blood pressure." [See also: USDA grants to support telemedicine in rural areas ]. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Multifunctional Beauty Machine Manufacturer , Laser Beauty Machine for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Laser Beauty Machine.
Related Articles -
Multifunctional Beauty Machine Manufacturer, Laser Beauty Machine,
|