An interventional study of Usual Care and Wireless HBPM System in Hypertension, sponsored by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. Terminated at 2 sites in Singapore. Open to participants aged 21 Years to 70 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-03-11.
Sponsored by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Despite the risks of hypertension and availability of effective treatment, a substantial number of patients have uncontrolled Blood Pressure (BP). Systematic reviews have shown that Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) produces modest improvements in BP control and that HBPM yields greater benefits when combined with other interventions such as remote titration change or adherence-enhancing strategies.
The investigators propose a Wireless HBPM System comprising of a Wireless Home Blood Pressure Monitor and a Study Application that aims to: provide text messaging on BP advice and reminders on BP management based on BP readings; promote adherence to BP monitoring and adherence to medication; flag patients for counselling on medication adherence and remote titration (by doctor) during in-between visits; cut the response time in case of emergency; and skip polyclinic visits for well-managed patients.
An additional arm will include the the addition of modest financial incentives for participants when they monitor their BP. This arm is subdivided into two sub-arms (Instant Reward and Health Capital) where patients are eligible to receive the same incentive amounts but framed differently.
This study is novel in its comprehensive approach to patient disease self-management and remote provision of medical care, potentially reducing the burden on the health system and improving patient health outcomes.
Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The ultimate goal of hypertension treatment is to lower blood pressure (BP) and thereby reduce cardiovascular risk. Despite the risks of hypertension and availability of effective treatment, a substantial number of patients have uncontrolled BP. Systematic reviews have shown that Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) produces modest improvements in BP control and that HBPM yields greater benefits when combined with other interventions such as remote titration change or adherence-enhancing strategies.
The effectiveness of HBPM is tempered because many patients with access to home BP monitors fail to regularly measure their BP or respond appropriately to high readings. New technology has made tele-monitoring of patient health feasible and has allowed for measurement and transmission of patient BP and other patient information from the home to a health care provider. An additional strategy to further improve the compliance of the patients with their hypertension management plan is to provide them with a clearer short term benefit, rewarding compliance. For example, those who achieve BP within the target range could receive a financial incentive.
The investigators' strategy to improve the effectiveness of HBPM to reduce BP is to use the full potential of wireless and mobile technology to create automatic feedback loops between the patient and the health care provider. The investigators propose a 6-month randomized controlled trial with 224 hypertensive patients with uncontrolled BP from the SingHealth Polyclinics in Bedok and Marine Parade, Singapore. The proposed trial will be a parallel study with one control arm and two intervention arms in ratio of 2:3:3 with the objective of measuring the incremental effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an intervention with Wireless HBPM System, with and without financial incentives, compared to non-wireless HBPM alone.
Specifically, the investigators have the following primary aims and hypotheses:
A1: Determine whether a Wireless HBPM System with and without financial incentives is effective at reducing systolic blood pressure (SBP) compared to a non-wireless HBPM that relies on patient self-reporting and best practices (Usual Care, UC).
H1a: The average reduction in SBP at 6 months will be greater for the patients in the intervention arms (Wireless HBPM System with and without Incentives) compared to UC patients.
H1b: The average reduction in SBP at 6 months will be greater for the patients in the Wireless HBPM System with incentives arm compared to those in the Wireless HBPM System without incentives arm.
As well as the following secondary aims and hypotheses:
A2: Determine whether a Wireless HBPM System with and without financial incentives is effective at reducing diastolic blood pressure (DBP) compared to a non-wireless HBPM that relies on patient self-reporting and best practices (Usual Care, UC).
H2a: The average reduction in DBP at 6 months will be greater for the patients in the intervention arms (Wireless HBPM System with and without incentives) compared to UC patients.
H2b: The average reduction in DBP at 6 months will be greater for the patients in the Wireless HBPM System with incentives arm compared to those in the Wireless HBPM System without incentives arm.
A3: Quantify the incremental cost-effectiveness of Wireless HBPM System without incentives compared with UC, and of Wireless HBPM System with incentives compared to Wireless HBPM without Incentives.
H3a: The Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) of Wireless HBPM System without incentives compared to UC will be favorable relative to international benchmarks for cost-effectiveness analysis.
H3b: The ICER of Wireless HBPM System with incentives compared to Wireless HBPM System without incentives will be favorable relative to other published RCTs with primary aim of reducing SBP.
A4: Determine whether a Wireless HBPM System with and without financial incentives is effective at decreasing patient non-adherence to BP self-monitoring and hypertensive medicines compared to a non-wireless HBPM that relies on patient self-reporting and best practices (Usual Care, UC).
H4a, H4b: The average number of missing BP measurements (H4a) and percentage of medication doses not taken (H4b) during the last month of the study will be smaller for the patients in the intervention arms (Wireless HBPM System with and without incentives) compared to UC patients.
H4c, H4d: The average number of missing BP measurements (H4c) and percentage of medication doses not taken (H4d) during the last month of the study will be smaller for the patients in the Wireless HBPM System with incentives arm compared to those in the Wireless HBPM System without incentives arm.
A5: Determine whether financial incentives framed as health capital is effective at decreasing patient non-adherence to BP self-monitoring compared to financial incentives framed as a reward.
H5: The average number of missing BP measurements over the intervention period will be smaller for the patients in the Health Capital sub-arm compared to those in the Instant Reward sub-arm.
6,114 studies on the registry are indexed under Hypertension; 912 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 42 is below the median of 100 across 4,575 interventional studies indexed under Hypertension.
Browse Hypertension studies →Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School is the lead sponsor of 63 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Usual care from SingHealth Polyclinics which includes non-wireless HBPM. In addition, participants will receive a medication event monitoring system and will be on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring at baseline and Month 6.
Other: Usual Care
Usual care from SingHealth Polyclinics with wireless HBPM system. In addition, participants will receive a medication event monitoring system and will be on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring at baseline and Month 6.
Other: Usual Care · Other: Wireless HBPM System
Usual care from SingHealth Polyclinics with wireless HBPM system and BP monitoring incentives. In addition, participants will receive a medication event monitoring system and will be on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring at baseline and Month 6.
Other: Usual Care · Other: Wireless HBPM System · Behavioral: BP Monitoring Incentives
Participants will be advised to measure their BP at least 3 times a week and record their results on a form. The participants will be educated on how to interpret their BP according to standard self-monitoring practice guidelines. As part of the study, participants without a HBPM will be provided with the Omron HEM 7130. Adherence to hypertensive medicines will be monitored using the medication event monitoring system eCAP™. In addition, the participants will be asked to undertake ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (using the Welch Allyn ABPM 7100 monitor) at Baseline and Month 6 for a duration of 12 hours, during their waking hours.
BP will be monitored using the iHealth KN-550BT wireless HBPM and transmitted to the study application via the iHealth mobile application. The Wireless HBPM System consists of: i) Instant BP feedback: Classification of each BP reading with feedback SMS. CRC will call the patient in case of alarming BP readings. ii) Weekly HBPM adherence feedback: Participants receive praise, encouraging, or reminder SMSes. iii) Continuous assessment: Based on average BP over the last 4 weeks, participants will be categorized and flagged for the CRC to follow clinical protocols. Protocols include asking patients to immediately come to the clinic, checking for alarm symptoms and discussing adherence over the phone, remote titration, and cancelling 1 clinic visit in case of good BP control.
Participants will receive an intervention identical to those in the Wireless HBPM System, with financial incentives for BP monitoring. This arm is further randomly subdivided into the Instant Reward and Health Capital arms in a 1:1 ratio. Instant Reward sub-arm: * Participants receive SGD 3 for each day they measure their BP, up to three times per week. * Participants do not receive financial incentive if they do not measure their BP. Health Capital sub-arm: * Participants receive an initial health capital of SGD 72 * Participants' health capital increases by SGD 6 on each week where they measure their BP on at least 3 different days and decreases weekly by 10% per missing BP reading.
Change in Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP)
Change in average SBP between baseline and Month 6 as measured by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring using the Welch Allyn ABPM 7100 monitor. At each time point (baseline and Month 6), ABPM frequency will be set at one BP measurement every 30 minutes for a duration of 12 waking hours, and average SBP will be calculated.
Time frame: Between baseline and Month 6
Change in Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP)
Change in average DBP between baseline and Month 6 as measured by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring using the Welch Allyn ABPM 7100 monitor. At each time point (baseline and Month 6), ABPM frequency will be set at one BP measurement every 30 minutes for a duration of 12 waking hours, and average DBP will be calculated.
Time frame: Between baseline and Month 6
Mean weekly number of missing BP readings
Participants are recommended to take their BP at least 3 times each week. This outcome measures the average weekly number of missing BPs over the last month of the intervention (Month 6).
Time frame: during Month 6
Mean weekly number of missing BP readings
Participants are recommended to take their BP at least 3 times each week. This outcomes measure the average weekly number of missing BPs over the entire duration of the intervention.
Time frame: from Month 1 to Month 6
Mean proportion of antihypertensive medication doses not taken
Medication adherence will be measured using the medication event monitoring system eCAP™. This outcome measures the proportion of scheduled antihypertensive medications that were not taken by the participant during the last month of the intervention (Month 6).
Time frame: during Month 6
Plan to share: No
Ran from Dec 2017 to primary completion in Jan 2019, 13 months.
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This study is terminated, as verified in Mar 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School