Remotely Delivered Behavioral Intervention Reduces Systolic BP Variation

THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A remotely delivered behavioral intervention can reduce variability in systolic blood pressure, expressed as the coefficient of variation (BPCoV), according to a study published online Aug. 12 in Scientific Reports.

Eyal Shemesh, M.D., from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues conducted a single-arm prospective proof-of-concept trial involving patients with excessive variability in systolic blood pressure (BPCoV >10 percent) identified from a review of electronic health records. Participants received a blood pressure monitor and a remotely delivered behavioral intervention for three months.

Overall, 107 of the 551 initially screened patients met the BPCoV criteria, and 25 consented. The researchers found that for the six-month period before enrollment, the average BPCoV was 12.96 compared with 7.02 during the intervention. Improvement was also observed in other variability metrics. Significant improvement was seen in sensitivity analyses (different timeframes, using measurements obtained in the clinic versus home monitor).

“Doctors should not only focus on patients” blood pressure at a specific visit but also look at what happens with the patient over time, to identify instances where measurements vary a lot between visits,” Shemesh said in a statement. “This trial showed that patients can be engaged remotely in an intervention aiming to stabilize their blood pressure readings.”

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