The Effect of Prevent-U Application on Hypertension Prevention among Elderly with Risk of Hypertension in Phrae Province, Thailand: A Quasi-Experimental Design

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Investigating the effect of prevention of hypertension (HT) among elderly people at risk of HT in Phrae province, Thailand. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study focused on 52 elderlies at risk of HT. Twenty-six elderly people were randomized into an intervention group and received standard care and were given access to the Prevent-U application for 12 weeks. Meanwhile, the remaining twenty-six received only standard care. As a baseline, demographic data and blood pressure (BP) levels were collected for all the elderly, and at the end of the study BP levels were measured once again. All data were analyzed by Chi-square test, paired t-test, and independent t-test. RESULTS: After 12 weeks’ BP levels of intervention group were lower than the baseline whether systolic blood pressure (SBP) (baseline:136.08 ± 1.54, 12th week: 127.00 ± 1.78, p < 0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (baseline: 85.77 ± 1.36, 12th week: 82.73 ± 1.28, p < 0.001). In addition, the results when comparing BP levels between the intervention group and comparison group after the end of the study, the BP levels of the intervention group were lower than the comparison group as well, SBP (Intervention group: 127.00 ± 1.78, Comparison group: 137.65 ± 1.26, p < 0.001) and DBP (Intervention group: 82.73 ± 1.28, Comparison group: mean = 87.88 ± 1.24, p < 0.001) CONCLUSION: The findings of this study presented users’ decline in BP levels after using the Prevent-U application. Thus, Prevent-U application may helpful in preventing high BP in the elderly at risk of HT.