Influência no uso de aplicativo m-Health na adesão ao tratamento da hipertensão

Abstract

Systemic arterial hypertension is a chronic and silent condition that increases blood pressure levels in the arteries. Low adherence to treatment is a serious public health problem. In this scenario, m-Health applications have been attracting an increasing number of users motivated by the advent of mobile devices. These applications can provide behavior change, keeping the user engaged in long-term use and, consequently, increasing adherence to treatment by monitoring health conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of using an m-Health application to assess adherence to hypertension treatment. A controlled, non-randomized, non-blind clinical trial was conducted. The participants were hypertensive men and women between 24 and 69 years old, from Basic Health Units of Passo Fundo. The sample was stratified into two groups: Intervention Group (IG), which used the e-Lifestyle application, and Control Group (CG), which maintained the usual treatment. The evaluation was carried out before and after three months of intervention, consisting of three stages: Pre-intervention, Intervention and Post-intervention. The instruments used in the evaluation were: Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Martin Bayarre Grau Questionnaire (MBG), and Experience Questionnaire (UEQ). The information was analyzed with statistical software. Descriptive analyzes of qualitative variables were performed using simple absolute (n) and relative (%) frequency. For the quantitative variables, measures of central tendency and dispersion (minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation) were calculated. To verify the improvement in adherence to intragroup antihypertensive treatment, the McNemar test was applied. To compare adherence to intergroup treatment, the chi-square test was applied. Significant results were considered when p <0.05. The percentage of adherence to treatment was higher after the intervention with the m-Health application (p <0.001). When comparing treatment adherence between the control group and the intervention group, before the intervention there was no significant association between the groups. However, after the intervention, the intervention group had a higher prevalence of treatment adherence (94.4%) when compared to the control group (31.3%). Most participants classified the experience of using the application as satisfactory, by recording the pressure values easily in the application they had a better understanding of their condition and a greater involvement in treatment adherence. The results provided insights to expand the use of technologies in health interventions in an interdisciplinary perspective, which benefits hypertensive patients and health professionals in the public health network, with strong evidence of increased adherence to treatment. All results and contributions will be presented in the form of scientific articles that will be submitted to journals in the area.