Development of mobile application for hypertension surveillance and telemonitoring in older persons in rural community

Abstract

Hypertension is a cause of cardiovascular complications and premature death worldwide. Prevalence of hypertension is doubled older population. Close monitoring must be promptly equipped by healthcare team without delays to preserve intact cardiovascular system. In Thailand, village health volunteers (VHVs, OSOMO in Thai) are key healthcare personnel that co-ordinate health information between the older persons and health care professionals. The VHVs have been trained to measure blood pressure, record, and submit a report to health professionals in monthly basis. However, the blood pressure records in some health areas were still incomplete due to incontiguous data collection and difficult access to the older persons. This project was aimed to develop a geographical information system (GIS)-based mobile application for hypertension surveillance and monitoring in older persons in rural community by the VHVs using the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) model. Results showed that blood pressure data of 6,421 (76.92%) of the older persons were recorded. We employed the Google Map Application Programming Interface (API) to identify latitude and longitude of the older persons’ living locations. Other health data were also recorded.