Self-monitoring of blood pressure following a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TASMIN5S):a randomised controlled trial

Background: Blood pressure (BP) control following stroke is important but currently sub-optimal. This trial aimed to determine whether self-monitoring of hypertension with telemonitoring and a treatment escalation protocol, results in lower BP than usual care in people with previous stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Methods: Unblinded randomised controlled trial, comparing a BP telemonitoring-based intervention with control (usual care) for hypertension management in 12 primary care practices in England. People with previous stroke or TIA with clinic systolic BP 130–180 mmHg, taking ≤ 3 antihypertensive medications and on stable treatment for at least four weeks were randomised 1:1 using secure online system to intervention or control. The BP:Together intervention comprised self-monitoring of blood pressure with a digital behavioural intervention which supported telemonitoring of self-monitored BP with feedback to clinicians and patients regarding medication titration. The planned primary outcome was difference in clinic measured systolic BP 12 months from randomisation but was not available following early study termination due to withdrawal of funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, in addition to pre-randomised data, routinely recorded BP was extracted from electronic patient records both pre- and post-randomisation and presented descriptively only. An intention to treat approach was taken. Results: From 650 postal invitations, 129 (20%) responded, of whom 95 people had been screened for eligibility prior to the pandemic (November 2019-March 2020) and 55 (58%) were randomised. Pre-randomisation routinely recorded mean BP was 145/78 mmHg in the control (n = 26) and 145/79 mmHg in the self-monitoring (n = 21) groups. Post-randomisation mean BP was 134/73 mmHg in the control (n = 19) and 130/75 mmHg in the self-monitoring (n = 25) groups. Participants randomised to self-monitoring used the intervention for ≥ 7 months in 25/27 (93%) of cases. Conclusions: Recruitment of people with stroke/TIA to a trial comparing a BP self-monitoring and digital behavioural intervention to usual care was feasible prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the vast majority of those randomised to intervention used it while the trial was running. Routinely recorded blood pressure control improved in both groups. Digital interventions including self-monitoring are feasible for people with stroke/TIA and should be definitively evaluated in future trials. Trial registration: ISRCTN57946500 06/09/2019 Prospective.