Evaluation of pharmacist-led telemedicine medication management for hypertension established patients during COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot study

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the impact of a telemedicine medication management service in patients with hypertension.

Methods: Participants were allocated to either a telemedicine service (N = 173) or usual care (UC) (N = 179). The primary outcome was blood pressure (BP) reduction from baseline to the 6-month follow-up visit, the proportion of the target BP achievement, overall adherence to prescribed medication as well as a composite of non-fatal stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction and cardiovascular death.

Results: At 6 months, BP was controlled in 89.6% (n = 155) of intervention patients and 78.8% (n = 141) of UC patients (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.04-1.25, P = 0.006), giving a mean difference of -6.0 (-13.0 to -2.5 mmHg) and -2.0 mmHg (-4.0 to -0.1 mmHg) in SBP and DBP, respectively. 17.9% (n = 31) of the patients in the intervention group were non-adherent with medications, compared with 29.1% (n = 52) in the UC group (P = 0.014). The composite clinical endpoints were reached by 2.9% in the intervention group and 4.5% in the control group with no significant differences (OR = 1.566, 95% CI = 0.528-4.646).

Conclusion: Telemedicine medication management for hypertension management had led to better BP control and medication adherence improvement than UC during COVID-19 epidemic, resulting in a reduction of overall adverse cardiovascular events occurrence.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; blood pressure; hypertension management; telemedicine medication management; usual care.