Dose Early Detection of Hypertension Through the Early Detection of Hypertension Program or Inclusion of Mobile Communication Improve Hypertension Outcomes in the Attendees of Primary Health Care in Najaf Governorate?

Abstract

Hypertension fortunately has an early asymptomatic stage so that it can be detected by early detection screening diagnostic tests; this will improve the clinical outcome of patients with hypertension and prevent its complications (1). Iraqi survey for chronic non-communicable diseases risk factors in 2006 showed that the prevalence of hypertension in the age group (25-65) years was 40.4%, which is more in males than females, with a significant increase in 45y and above (2). Hypertension is considered to be one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, renal disease, disability, and health care costs (3). Proper management of hypertension is associated with a 40% reduction in the risk of stroke and a 15% reduction in the risk of ischaemic heart disease. This study aims to raise awareness about the importance of early detection of hypertension programme in primary health care centres and its significance on the future effects on the body's general health. This study focused on the follow-up of patients diagnosed as hypertensive by the Early Detection of Non-Communicable Diseases programme applied in primary health care centres and the impact of using the telemonitoring technique on the compliance and adherence of hypertensive patients to follow-up visits. This interventional study included 27 randomly selected primary health care centres, designed to include all patients attending the primary health care centres during a period extending from the beginning of January to the end of March, aged 20 years and over, all diagnosed patients were subjected to a questionnaire paper designed for this purpose after oral consent was taken, excluding the previously diagnosed patients, hypertension during pregnancy and persons under 20 years of age according to the guideline. Each patient received a management plan according to the programme and was followed up by mobile phone by the study staff for 30, 60, and 90 days respectively. The results demonstrated that 1132 patients exhibited elevated blood pressure at the screening visit, representing 8.4% of the total client population of 13,456. Of these, only 6.71% were diagnosed as hypertensive at the second diagnostic visit in the absence of intervention. The attendance rate of patients at follow-up visits after mobile intervention was 26.31%, which was significantly higher (p < 0.005). There was a notable difference in blood pressure levels at follow-up visits compared to the baseline measurement and a strong correlation with mobile telemonitoring. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that telemonitoring has a significant impact as an interventional approach in improving blood pressure outcomes.