UCSF Cardiologist Tells Hypertension Self-management Study Success Story

"The level of engagement is something I have not seen in other digital hypertension management programs," said Alexis Beatty, MD, MAS, in an interview with Patient Care Online. "Sustained engagement and decreases in systolic blood pressure of more than 20 mmHg could reduce a person’s chances of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and death.”

Beatty, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco, was referring to a study she led, recently published in JAMA Network Open, that analyzed data collected from more than 28 000 US adults who used a workplace-sponsored hypertension self-management program for up to 3 years. Baseline participant blood pressure ranged from normal to stage 2 hypertension and, Beatty notes, the greater the engagement with the program (includes a blood pressure monitor and connected smartphone app with digital lifestyle coaching), the greater the BP reduction and the longer reductions were maintained.

Beatty points out that this is the first peer-reviewed, published study to report long-term experience of a digital health application for BP management, "with a magnitude of association that is clinically meaningful."

Alexis Beatty, MD, MAS is an associate professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics and also holds an appointment in the department of medicine, division of cardiology at University of California, San Francisco. In addition, she is co-director of the UCSF Training in Clinical Research program and director of the UCSF MD/MAS program.