Introduction:

Arterial hypertension is the great challenge of health policies in the world. Its high prevalence, the lack of control (linked to poor adherence to antihypertensive treatment) and its high "burden" (as a non-communicable disease) are responsible for the increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Objetive:

To evaluate, as a pilot test, the benefit of real-time telemonitoring applied to blood pressure (BP) control.

Metodology:

Inclusion criteria: Diagnosed hypertensives, under pharmacological treatment, assisted in the Maciel Hospital polyclinic in the period June-October 2019. Exclusion criteria: pregnancy and upper arm circumference less than 22 cm or greater than 42 cm. Home blood pressure monitoring was implemented, using a validated electronic blood pressure monitor and a smart cell phone connected to a private web platform in real time. Analytical, experimental, prospective study. Qualitative variables were expressed in absolute frequency and percentage relative frequency. Quantitative variables were expressed as mean and standard deviation. The normality of the distribution was verified using the Kolmogorov Smirnov test.

Results:

Of a total of 57 patients, the mean age was 59 ± 12.8 years, female sex 64.9%. Presenting 22.8% poor knowledge of the disease. Regarding the control of BP figures, 31.6% reported not checking regularly. Adherence to pharmacological treatment at the beginning of the monitoring was 33.3%. Figures lower than those described by RENATA-2, where half of the treated hypertensives complied with the treatment. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were analyzed at the beginning and end of the study. Pre-monitoring measurements were mean SBP: 138.6 ± 17.8 mmHg and mean DBP: 85.4 ± 14.8 mmHg. The records at the end of the immediate monitoring were 131.5 ± 19.9 mmHg and 81.5 ± 14.2 mmHg for PAS and PAD, respectively. Finding a significant difference between the means of the PAS (p 0.019), but not between the means of the DBP (p 0.06).

Discussion:

Although the percentage of patients achieving good BP control was significant, these results may be closely related to a subtype of observed performance bias, rather than the outcome of the intervention. The mean days of telemonitoring were 8, 85, number of shots was 34.12, and number of interventions performed by the observer (medication change) was 0.30. User satisfaction with the method used was 96.4%, and 100% considered it Easy or very easy to use. 87.5% would use it for long periods of time, including older adults.

Conclusions:

The studied method shows potential benefits for the control of BP figures, with a wide acceptance by users, facilitating access to the health system, and quality medical care.

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