(HealthDay News) — A multicomponent intervention delivered on a web-based platform can improve blood pressure (BP) control among individuals with hypertension, according to a study published online Dec. 7 in JAMA Network Open.

Haoqi Zhou, PhD, from the Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, and colleagues established a multicomponent intervention delivered on a web-based telemedicine platform and examined its role on BP control for patients with hypertension in a cluster randomized clinical trial conducted at 66 community health centers in China. A total of 4,118 patients were included in the analysis: 2,985 and 1,133 in the intervention and control groups, respectively.

The BP control rate was 22.8 and 22.5% in the intervention and control groups, respectively, at baseline. The researchers found that the BP control rate was significantly higher for the intervention group versus the control group after 12 months of the intervention (47.4 versus 30.2%; odds ratio, 1.18). The effect of the intervention was −10.1 mm Hg and −1.8 mm Hg on systolic and diastolic BP levels, respectively.

“The study provided clinical evidence that telemedicine may be an effective way to manage patients with hypertension in the community and may generate public health benefits across diverse populations,” the authors write.

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