Randomized clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of remote patient monitoring and physician care in reducing office blood pressure.

The effectiveness of remote patient monitoring and physician care for the treatment of hypertension has not been demonstrated in a randomized clinical trial. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of remote patient monitoring with or without remote physician care in reducing office blood pressure in patients with hypertension. A total of 374 hypertensive patients over 20 years of age were randomized into the following three groups: group (1) control, the patients received usual clinical care with home BP monitoring; group (2) the patients were remotely monitored and received office follow-up; and group (3) the patients received remote monitoring without physician office care using the remote monitoring device. For each group, in-office follow-up care was scheduled every 8 weeks for 24 weeks. The primary end point was the difference in sitting SBP at the 24-week follow-up. No difference between the three groups was observed in the primary end point (adjusted mean sitting SBP was as follows: group 1: -8.9±15.5 mm Hg, group 2: -11.3±15.9 mm Hg, group 3: -11.6±19.8 mm Hg, (NS). Significant differences in achieving the target BP at the 24th week of follow-up were observed between groups 1 and 2. The subjects over 55-years old had a significant decrease in the adjusted mean sitting SBP in groups 2 and 3 compared with that of the control group. Remote monitoring alone or remote monitoring coupled with remote physician care was as efficacious as the usual office care for reducing blood pressure with comparable safety and efficacy in hypertensive patients.