Automated Phone System Helps People with Hypertension

Recent research published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes and conducted by Dr. Pavel Hamet and colleagues has found that by using an automated calling system, people can lower their blood pressure and be more aware of their condition. The research team led by Hamet, a professor of medicine, physiology and nutrition at the University of Montreal, looked at 223 patients from 8 primary care centers located in the vicinity of Montreal. Each of the patients was asked to wear a portable blood pressure monitor that took readings 24 hours a day. Researchers gave about half of the study participants an educational booklet, while the other half received the booklet, a digital blood pressure monitor to use in their home and a book to log their readings in. Each participant in that half of the group was also called at least once a week for their most recent reading by a computer-based telephone system that they were connected to. Those blood pressure readings received by the phone system were also sent to the patient’s pharmacist and primary care physician, in case changes in treatment were necessary. Study participants who only received the educational booklet were not connected to this calling system and were monitored as they ordinarily would be.

Researchers found that after one year, study participants who had their blood pressure monitored 24 hours a day and were called by the automated system had an average decrease in systolic pressure of 11.9 mm Hg and an average decrease in diastolic pressure of 6.6 mm Hg. The group that was not monitored by the telephone system had an average reduction of 7.1 mm Hg in systolic pressure and an average reduction of 4.5 mm Hg in diastolic pressure. When blood pressure was monitored in a doctor’s office, the group that had been called saw average reductions of 18.7 mm Hg systolic and 9.1 mm Hg diastolic, while the control group had average reductions of 13.8 mm Hg systolic and 5.6 mm Hg diastolic. Patients connected to the automated telephone system were more likely to be placed on additional medications or prescribed higher doses by their physicians when compared with the control group. Hamet and his team believe that if it proved to be cost-effective, this type of automated calling system to monitor high blood pressure could become an option for patients being treated for hypertension. To learn more about ways to lower the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, visit the American Heart Association website. If you or a loved one has experienced a serious injury or death as a result of a delay in diagnosis or treatment of heart disease, call or e-mail the attorneys at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. We serve clients with Brooklyn medical malpractice, Bronx medical malpractice, Manhattan medical malpratice, Queens medical malpracitce and Long Island medical malpractice cases. We also serve clients located in Staten Island and Westchester County.

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