Effectiveness of SMS Reminders of Blood Pressure-lowering Drugs Intake

Launched by COMENIUS UNIVERSITY · Apr 3, 2017

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Hypertension belongs to the main risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world and in the Slovak Republic. Despite the availability of effective antihypertensive treatment, blood pressure control remains a serious problem. Poor adherence to blood pressure-lowering medication is considered to be the key factor for uncontrolled blood pressure. Studies estimate the overall adherence to medication in patients with chronic diseases at around 50%. Slovak studies report even significantly lower adherence rates (15-19%), which underline...

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Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Age ≥ 55 years (from the day of the 55. birthday inclusive)
• • Diagnosis of primary (essential) hypertension (I10 according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10))
• • Filling of blood pressure-lowering prescription(s) at trial recruitment (Visit 1)
• • Duration of antihypertensive drug treatment for at least 1 year without any discontinuation
• • Ownership of a mobile phone for personal use with the ability to open and read SMS
• • Understanding of Slovak language on native-speaker level
• • Informed consent for participation in the clinical trial and personally signed Informed Consent Form
• Exclusion Criteria:
• Exclusion criteria assessed prior to patient enrolment (by trial pharmacists):
• • Planned hospitalisation during the trial period (3 months)
• • Biological impairment affecting the ability to read the SMS (e.g. loss of vision, visual field cuts, aphasia)
• • Living in the same household with another trial participant
• • Participation in another clinical trial
• Exclusion criteria assessed after patient enrolment (by trial pharmacists and project leader):
• • Hospitalisation during the trial period
• • Patient informs he/she won't be able to participate in the trial
• • Withdrawal of Informed Consent