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Original research
Feasibility of home blood pressure screening in the paediatric outpatient clinic setting
  1. Jessie R Mackay1,2,
  2. Jonathan P Glenning1,2,3,
  3. Brittany M Grantham1,2,
  4. Kylie Clark1,2,
  5. Jonathan P Mynard1,3,
  6. Catherine N Olweny2,
  7. Catherine Quinlan1,2,3,
  8. Gabriel Dabscheck1,2
  1. 1Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  2. 2The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  3. 3The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Jonathan P Glenning; jonathan.glenning{at}mcri.edu.au

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of home-based blood pressure (BP) screening in a group of paediatric patients with known elevated risk of developing hypertension.

Design Cross-sectional study.

Setting Specialist outpatient clinic and patient homes.

Patients 52 children and adolescents living with neurofibromatosis type 1.

Interventions Clinic BP measured thrice manually and once via an automated device; home BP measured daily with the same device for 3 days.

Main outcome measures Acceptability and feasibility were assessed with a Children’s Anxiety Meter-State score, the comparability of home and clinic BPs, a parental survey, assessment of costs and the device return rate.

Results Home systolic BP and diastolic BP were statistically similar to both clinic manual (95% CI −4.78 to 0.13; −4.80 to 0.93) and automatic BPs (95% CI −4.44 to 2.08; −0.54 to 5.52). Anxiety scores (95% CI −0.57 to 0.35) were also similar between settings. Participants and their families reported that home BP measurement was easy, took ~10 min and minimally interrupted family life. Families also largely preferred home BP screening (73% ‘yes’, 23% ‘not sure’, 3% ‘no’), and 90% returned their devices. Families reported substantial costs in attending clinic, which could be reduced with access to this home BP programme.

Conclusions Home BP screening was acceptable and feasible, with home BPs comparable to clinic measurements, no associated anxiety and preferred by families. Telehealth with home BP screening is a viable alternative to in-person appointments, which could reduce individual costs, and foster greater equity of care and access to health services.

  • Nephrology
  • Neurology
  • Health services research
  • Cardiology
  • Healthcare Disparities

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. Deidentified individual participant data (including data dictionaries) will be made available, in addition to study protocols, and the informed consent form. The data will be made available upon publication to researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal for use in achieving the goals of the approved proposal. Proposals should be submitted to data.requests@mcri.edu.au and will be subject to an ethical review process and approval.

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2024-327391

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request. Deidentified individual participant data (including data dictionaries) will be made available, in addition to study protocols, and the informed consent form. The data will be made available upon publication to researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal for use in achieving the goals of the approved proposal. Proposals should be submitted to data.requests@mcri.edu.au and will be subject to an ethical review process and approval.

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    Footnotes

    • JRM and JPG are joint first authors.

    • CQ and GD are joint senior authors.

    • X @glenningj

    • Contributors JRM contributed to conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, project administration, and writing—review and editing. JPG contributed to conceptualisation, methodology, software, investigation, formal analysis, validation, data curation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. BMG contributed to methodology, investigation, project administration, and writing—review and editing. KC contributed to investigation, supervision, and writing—review and editing. JM and CNO contributed to methodology and writing—review and editing. CQ contributed to conceptualisation, methodology, supervision, formal analysis, and writing—review and editing. GD contributed to conceptualisation, methodology, supervision, resources, funding acquisition, and writing—review and editing. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. GD is the guarantor.

    • Funding This work was supported by the donation of 40 blood pressure monitors by the Flicker of Hope Foundation. JG was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.