During the pandemic, telemedicine has become a right-hand man for healthcare workers.

(AFP)

[Health Channel/Comprehensive Report] It is estimated that more than 1 billion people in the world suffer from high blood pressure. Poor blood pressure control is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack, stroke, and high-risk groups may even contract Covid-19. developed into severe disease.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, patients' blood pressure levels, although slightly "worsening," may have benefited from telemedicine, home monitoring, a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health shows The popularity of tools has not been as severe as expected.

Related research has been published in the international journal "Hypertension".

According to foreign media reports, the researchers used data from three large medical centers in the United States to look at the data of 137,593 hypertensive patients with an average age of 66 years, 57% of whom were women, in order to compare the pre-pandemic (August 2018) data. to January 2020) and the peak of the pandemic (April 2020 to January 2021).

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The results showed that in the first 3 months of the pandemic, the number of blood pressure measurements of patients decreased significantly, and was 90% lower than that before the pandemic, but as time went on, the number of blood pressure continued to climb.

However, the overall level is still not as good as before.

The researchers estimate that part of the reason may be related to the cancellation or delay of physical medical treatment.

In addition, patients' systolic blood pressure increased by an average of 1.79 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure by an average of 1.30 mmHg.

Although the increase was small, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that a 2mmHg increase in blood pressure could increase the risk of major cardiovascular events by 5%, according to the study.

Study leader Hiroshi Gotanda pointed out that blood pressure control was expected to be worse than expected due to reduced physical activity, stress, poor sleep quality and other cardiovascular disease risk factors during the pandemic, but the results were better than expected, possibly thanks to Telemedicine and home blood pressure monitoring tools also let experts know that technology assistance is one of the powerful tools for blood pressure control, and it can also come in handy when encountering other public health emergencies in the future.

Paula Einhorn, an NHLBI member who participated in the project, said the study not only provides new evidence on how the pandemic affects high blood pressure, but also highlights the value of "self-care" in helping to monitor and control elevated blood pressure.

She also reminds hypertensive patients to continue physical or telehealth care, while following the lifestyle and treatment recommendations derived from them.

However, the study still has its limitations, only looking at people who have the ability to receive support from the health care system, other patients who are not my own may have different outcomes, and even (blood pressure) is deeply affected by (pandemic).

The researchers next will explore how a small increase in blood pressure can affect long-term cardiovascular health, such as the incidence of stroke and heart attack, and whether it is possible to identify specific racial or ethnic groups, lower levels of digital literacy, etc. Difficulty in accessing telemedicine resources.

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keywords

  • hypertension

  • Cardiovascular diseases

  • severe

  • telemedicine

  • COVID-19

  • Home testing tools

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