Interventions of eHealth technologies integrated with non-physician health workers for improving management of hypertension: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Hypertension is a major public health problem, accounting for 7.5 million deaths and 57 million disability-adjusted life years annually worldwide. The majority of hypertension-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite the escalating prevalence of hypertension in many LMICs, only one-third of those affected are aware of their hypertension status. The rapid proliferation of eHealth technologies presents an opportunity to improve the detection and management of hypertension. Many LMICs face a critical shortage of physicians, and their services often come at a considerable cost to the health system. Non-physician health workers could be a cost-effective alternative to improve the detection and management of hypertension, particularly in LMICs. In this systematic review, we aim to synthesize and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that integrated eHealth technologies with non-physician health workers to reduce blood pressure. A diverse range of eHealth technologies, such as mobile-based applications, telemonitoring, short text messaging and electronic decision support systems, are being used by non-physician health workers for the management of hypertension. We found that eHealth technologies integrated with non-physician health workers reduced overall mean systolic blood pressure by -4.09 mmHg (95%CI: -5.87 to -2.32) compared to usual care. Similarly, such an integrated approach also reduced diastolic blood pressure by -1.25 mmHg (-2.31 to -0.81) in the intervention group than usual care. Therefore, leveraging the use of cost-effective eHealth technologies to support task-sharing with non-physicians presents an effective strategy for enhancing blood pressure management, applicable to both high- and low-income countries.