Remote Surveillance of Postpartum Hypertension (TextBP)

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hypertension in Pregnancy

Treatments: Other: Remote (text based) surveillance

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03185455

825390

Details and patient eligibility

About

Women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy need postpartum blood pressure (BP) surveillance to detect persistent hypertension. Various barriers result in only 30% attendance at postpartum BP visits. A more effective strategy is needed. Women with hypertension of pregnancy will be randomized to either text-based monitoring or office visits. Those randomized to the intervention will receive a BP cuff and text in their BP to an automated, clinician derived, HIPAA compliant text-based algorithm.

Full description

Hypertension is a leading cause of maternal morbidity, mortality and obstetrical readmissions. Peak blood pressure usually occurs 3-6 days postpartum, and is typically unaccompanied by warning symptoms. Although there is a clear need for effective and reliable blood pressure surveillance after delivery, there are significant obstacles to in-person visits in the immediate postpartum period, including sleep deprivation, newborn care, and transportation needs. These barriers have proven real as we observed only 30-50% attendance to office blood pressure visits following delivery. This proposal will investigate whether text-based communication between patients and providers is an effective alternative method for monitoring postpartum hypertension in at risk women.

Women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy with access to a cell phone with unlimited text message capabilities will be randomized to either office visit blood pressure checks after discharge or receive a blood pressure cuff and text in blood pressures for two weeks postpartum using a standardized, HIPAA compliant, physician derived automated platform.

Enrollment: 206 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Women with chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, or preeclampsia who deliver at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania will be eligible to participate. All patients must be > 18 years old, able to speak and read English, have a hypertension diagnosis, and have access to a cell phone with unlimited text message capabilities.

Exclusion criteria

• Women without access to a cell phone with unlimited text message capabilities will be excluded from the study in order to eliminate barriers to participate in remote surveillance. However, we will track the number of women not eligible for this reason in order to understand generalizability in an urban population.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

206 participants in 2 patient groups

Standard of Care

No Intervention group

Description:

Those randomized to the standard protocol for blood pressure monitoring will be scheduled for an office based nursing blood pressure visits 4-6 days postpartum. Care at this visit is based on a physician derived algorithm.

Remote (text based) surveillance

Experimental group

Description:

Those randomized to remote surveillance will be provided with electronic blood pressure monitors prior to discharge and instructed on their use. Every day, for two weeks post-discharge, patients will receive a standard text message in the morning from a HIPAA compliant automated monitoring system reminding them to text their blood pressure. They will be asked to send in one blood pressure a day at minimum. They may be asked to send in more depending on the blood pressure result and clinical algorithm. This system will provide timely responses to patient texts and create a physician derived response to elevated blood pressures based on a programmed algorithm. Additionally, for blood pressures that reach a dangerous threshold, a clinical provider will be alerted per the algorithm and contact the patient for further evaluation.

Treatment:

Other: Remote (text based) surveillance