Differentiated Effects and Determinants of Home Blood Pressure Telemonitoring: Three-Year Cohort Study in Jieshou, Anhui, China

BACKGROUND: Home blood pressure telemonitoring (HBPT) is witnessing rapid diffusion worldwide. Contemporary studies documented mainly short-term (6-12 months) effects of HBPT, and there are limited data about its uptake. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the 3-year use and determinants of HBPT, and the interactions with systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) and overall blood pressure (BP) control rate. METHODS: HBPT records were obtained from a 3-year cohort of 5658 patients with hypertension in Jieshou, Anhui, China, and data from a structured household survey of a random sample (n=3005) of the cohort. The data analysis comprised (1) timeline trajectories of the rates of monthly active HBPT and mean SBP/DBP for overall and subgroups of patients with varied start-month SBP/DBP; and (2) multivariable linear, logistic, and percentile regression analyses using SBP/DBP, BP control rate, and yearly times of HBPT as the dependent variable, respectively. RESULTS: HBPT was followed by mixed changes in mean monthly SBP/DBP for varied patient groups. The magnitude of changes ranged from –43 to +39 mmHg for SBP and from –27 to +15 mmHg for DBP. The monthly rates of active HBPT all exhibited a rapid and then gradually slower decline. When controlled for commonly reported confounders, times of HBPT in the last year were found to have decreasing correlation coefficients for SBP/DBP (from 0.16 to –0.35 and from 0.11 to –0.35, respectively) and for BP control rate (from 0.53 to –0.62). CONCLUSIONS: HBPT had major and “target-converging” effects on SBP/DBP. The magnitude of changes was much greater than commonly reported. BP, variation in BP, and time were the most important determinants of HBPT uptake. Age, education, duration of hypertension, family history, and diagnosis of hypertension complications were also linked to the uptake but at weaker strength. There is a clear need for differentiated thinking over the application and assessment of HBPT, and for identifying and correcting/leveraging potential outdated/new opportunities or beliefs.