Self-monitoring hypertension program can help curb BP for high-risk patients

A new study has revealed that the hypertension self-management program can help reduce blood pressure for high-risk patients.

It was found that among patients with hypertension at high risk of cardiovascular disease, a program that consisted of patients measuring their blood pressure and adjusting their antihypertensive medication accordingly resulted in lower systolic blood pressure at 12 months compared to patients who received usual care.

Data from national and international surveys suggested that despite improvements over the last decade, significant proportions of patients have poor control of their elevated blood pressure. Self-monitoring of blood pressure with self-titration (adjusting) of antihypertensives results in lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension, but there are no data about patients in high-risk groups, according to background information in the article.

The authors mentioned that the trial has shown for the first time, that a group of high-risk individuals, with hypertension and significant cardiovascular comorbidity, are able to self-monitor and self-titrate antihypertensive treatment following a pre-specified algorithm developed with their family physician and that in doing so, they achieved a clinically significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure without an increase in adverse events. This would be the population with the most to gain in terms of reducing future cardiovascular events from optimized blood pressure control.

Peter M. Nilsson, M.D., said that future trials studying the effects of self-titration on cardiovascular events are needed and, a "bring it home" blood pressure-lowering strategy appears suitable for patients with hypertension and comorbidities.

The study is published in the issue of JAMA.