Heart attacks and strokes halved using pharmacist-led home blood pressure telemonitoring

A study published this week in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension found that 12 months of pharmacist-managed home blood pressure telemonitoring and pharmacist management lowered hypertension for two years.

Researchers also observed that study participants enrolled in telemonitoring were about half as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those receiving usual primary care.

“The findings were just short of statistical significance, meaning they could have been due to chance,” said lead study author Dr. Karen L. Margolis in a statement. “However, we were surprised that the figures on serious cardiovascular events pointed so strongly to a benefit of the telemonitoring intervention.”