Impact of an Electronic Medication Compliance Aid on Long‐Term Blood Pressure Control

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Abstract
A two‐phase study was conducted to assess the effect of an electronic medication compliance aid on hypertension control and pharmaceutical compliance in ambulatory patients. In Phase I (12 weeks), 36 patients were randomly assigned to a medication vial equipped with a cap containing a digital timepiece that displays the last time the cap was removed. The control group included 34 patients randomly assigned to a standard medication vial. Subjects using the timepiece cap showed an average compliance rate of 95.1%, an average decrease in systolic pressure of 7.6 mm Hg (P = .006), and an average decrease in diastolic pressure of 8.8 mm Hg (P < .001). Controls had an average compliance rate of 78% and decreases of 2.8 mm Hg and 0.2 mm Hg in systolic and diastolic pressures, respectively. Phase 11 (12 weeks) combined use of the timepiece cap with other compliance aids: a pocket‐size card for recording blood pressure and a blood pressure cuff for self‐monitoring. Patients using the timepiece cap and the card had an average compliance rate of 98.7% with mean decreases of 11 mm Hg in systolic pressure (P < .01) and 7.64 Hg mm in diastolic pressure (P = .0001). The combined use of the cap, the card, and the blood pressure cuff resulted in an average 100.2% compliance rate with mean decreases of 15 mm Hg (P = .0006) and 6.60 mm Hg (P = .0006) in systolic and diastolic pressures, respectively. Results of the two‐phase study showed statistically significant increases in medication compliance associated with statistically and clinically significant reductions in blood pressure for all patients using the timepiece cap.