Interindividual Variability in Self-Monitoring of Blood Pressure Using Consumer-Purchased Wireless Devices

BACKGROUND: Engagement with self-monitoring of blood pressure (BP) declines, on average, over time but may vary substantially by individual.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to describe different 1-year patterns (groups) of self-monitoring of BP behaviors, identify predictors of those groups, and examine the association of self-monitoring of BP groups with BP levels over time.

METHODS: We analyzed device-recorded BP measurements collected by the Health eHeart Study-an ongoing prospective eCohort study-from participants with a wireless consumer-purchased device that transmitted date- and time-stamped BP data to the study through a full 12 months of observation starting from the first day they used the device. Participants received no instruction on device use. We applied clustering analysis to identify 1-year self-monitoring, of BP patterns.

RESULTS: Participants had a mean age of 52 years and were male and White. Using clustering algorithms, we found that a model with three groups fit the data well: persistent daily use (9.1% of participants), persistent weekly use (21.2%), and sporadic use only (69.7%). Persistent daily use was more common among older participants who had higher Week 1 self-monitoring of BP frequency and was associated with lower BP levels than the persistent weekly use or sporadic use groups throughout the year.

CONCLUSION: We identified three distinct self-monitoring of BP groups, with nearly 10% sustaining a daily use pattern associated with lower BP levels.