Status of home blood pressure monitoring and influencing factors of regular home blood pressure monitoring among elderly uncontrolled hypertensive patients in Central and Western China

Abstract

Objective: To describe the prevalence of home blood pressure monitoring and analyze the factors influencing regular blood pressure monitoring among elderly uncontrolled hypertensive patients in Central and Western China. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study, which enrolled hypertensive patients aged over 60 years with office blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) from September 2019 to July 2020 in 72 hospitals in Central and Western China. Patients completed the electronic questionnaires, and were divided into regular and irregular home blood pressure monitoring groups. The proportion of patients using different types of sphygmomanometers and the percentage of patients with regular home blood pressure monitoring (at least weekly) were explored. The generalized linear mixed model was used to define the influencing factors of regular home blood pressure monitoring. Results: A total of 3 857 patients were included in this study. Age was 67(64,71) years old and there were 2 163 males (56.1%). Overall, sphygmomanometer was available at home for 3 044(78.9%) patients, 2 168(56.2%) patients conducted regular home blood pressure monitoring. Among the patients with a sphygmomanometer at home, 2 370(77.9%) of the sphygmomanometers were upper arm electronic device. Older age, higher income, longer history of hypertension, multiple antihypertensive medications and awareness of diagnostic criteria of hypertension and hypertension complications were associated with a higher prevalence of regular home blood pressure monitoring (all P<0.05). Conclusions: Among the elderly hypertensive patients with uncontrolled blood pressure in Central and Western China, there is a relatively high prevalence of home sphygmomanometer ownership and regular monitoring. Age, family income, history of hypertension, number of antihypertensive drugs and knowledge of hypertension are the influencing factors of regular home blood pressure monitoring in this population.