Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Trial

Overview

Design: Community based randomised trial with follow up after 12 months Participants: 360 patients admitted with stroke or TIA within the past 9 months will be recruited from the wards or outpatients and randomly allocated into two groups. All patients will be visited by the specialist nurse at home at baseline when she will measure their BP and administer a questionnaire. The questionnaire and BP will be repeated at 12 months follow-up by another researcher blind as to whether the patient is in intervention or control group. Intervention: Intervention patients will be given a validated home BP monitor and support from the specialist nurse. Control patients will continue with usual care (BP monitoring by their practice). Main outcome measures in both groups after 12months: 1.Change in systolic BP 2.Cost effectiveness: Incremental cost of the intervention to the NHS and incremental cost per quality adjusted life year gained. Study hypothesis. Home blood pressure monitoring with nurse support wil lead to lower blood pressure after 12 months compared with usual GP care

High blood pressure in patients with stroke increases the risk of recurrence but management in the community is often inadequate. Home blood pressure monitoring may increase patients' involvement in their care, increase compliance, and reduce the need for patients to attend their GP if blood pressure is adequately controlled. However the value of home monitoring to improve BP control is unclear and there is now a window of opportunity for evaluation before their use becomes widespread in the UK. Furthermore its use in stroke patients presents unique challenges relating to the consequent neurological disability.