EFFECT OF AN ELECTRO-STIMULATOR DEVICE ON THE AVERAGE 24-HOUR BLOOD PRESSURE IN PATIENTS WITH MILD AND MODERATE HYPERTENSION

Abstract

Objective: Hypertension is considered the third leading killer over the world. Non-pharmacological therapy to prevent and to manage hypertension gained more popularity worldwide. Low frequency transcutaneous electrical nervous stimulation (TENS) was found to be beneficial in decreasing systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of TENS-based device in reducing blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Design and method: This was a prospective interventional paired study which examined the effect of low frequency TENS device (Inferum-050) on the 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure in a cohort of 50 patients with mild and moderate hypertension (based on the European Society of Cardiology definition). The device looks like a digital watch and in the baseline visit, patients were taught to use. They were told to wear the device on the ventral aspect of the distal left forearm. turn it on and just sit and relax as the device acts automatically. Patients were instructed to use the device for 6 minutes/session, twice daily, for 14 consecutive days at home. Office and Ambulatory blood pressures were evaluated at baseline and after 14 days of device use. Results: The mean age of patients was 51.8 ± 15.0 years and almost half were females (n = 26, 52%). Baseline office measurements showed that 28 patients (56%) had moderate hypertension. There were statistically significant reductions of office systolic (147.9 ± 14.4 vs 159.2 ± 8.6mmHg, p < 0.001), office diastolic (88.5 ± 8 vs 96.7 ± 6.6 mmHg, p < 0.001), 24-hours ambulatory systolic (147.7 ± 14.5 vs 158.4 ± 8.2mmHg, p < 0.001) and 24-hours ambulatory diastolic blood pressures (89.1 ± 8.1 vs 95.1 ± 7.1 mmHg, p < 0.001) in follow up as compared to baseline values. Nineteen patients (38%) complained of symptoms, mostly headache and fatigue, at baseline, and most of them (n = 15, 79%) reported improvement of these symptoms at follow up. Conclusions: Inferum ABP-050 device could be used as a non-pharmacologic adjuvant therapy to help further reduction of blood pressure in patients with mild and moderate hypertension. Most of the symptomatic patients reported improvement of their symptoms after device use. However, further studies and larger number of patients are needed to validate these results.