Introduction
Current evidence has revealed the beneficial effects of mobile health applications
on systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, there is still no solid evidence
of the underlying factors for these outcomes, and hypertension treatment is performed
mainly by medication intake. This study aims to analyze the impacts of health applications
on medication adherence of patients with hypertension and understand the underlying
factors.
Methods
A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted considering controlled clinical
trials published, without year filter, through July 2020. The searches were performed
in the electronic databases of Scopus, MEDLINE, and BVSalud. Study characteristics
were extracted for qualitative synthesis. The meta-analysis examined medication-taking
behavior outcomes using the generic inverse-variance method to combine multiple variables.
Results
A total of 1,199 records were identified, of which 10 studies met the inclusion criteria
for qualitative synthesis, and 9 met the criteria for meta-analysis with 1,495 participants.
The analysis of mean changes revealed significant improvements in medication adherence
(standardized mean difference=0.41, 95% CI=0.02, 0.79, I2=82%, p=0.04) as well as the analysis of the values measured after follow-up (standardized
mean difference=0.60, 95% CI=0.30, 0.90, I2=77%, p<0.0001). Ancillary improvements were also identified, such as patients’ perceived
confidence, treatment self-efficacy and self-monitoring, acceptance of technology,
and knowledge about the condition and how to deal with health issues.
Discussion
There is evidence that mobile health applications can improve medication adherence
in patients with hypertension, with broad heterogeneity between studies on the topic.
The use of mobile health applications conceivably leads to ancillary improvements
inherent to better medication adherence.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 26, 2021
Identification
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© 2021 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
