Reach Out Behavioral Intervention for Hypertension Initiated in the Emergency Department Connecting Multiple Health Systems: A Randomized Control Trial

Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) is the most important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and disproportionally impacts Black and low-income people. The emergency department (ED) cares for medically underserved populations, many of whom have HTN. Mobile health (mHealth) strategies initiated in safety-net EDs may be one approach to control blood pressure (BP) in a medically underserved population. Hypothesis: A multicomponent, ED initiated multiphase optimization strategy would identify intervention components that reduce BP at 12 months. Methods: Reach Out is a health system focused, health theory based, mHealth 2x2x2 factorial behavioral trial to reduce BP among hypertensive patients evaluated in a safety-net ED. Intervention components included: 1) healthy behavior text messaging (yes vs. no), 2) prompted BP self-monitoring (SMBP) (weekly vs. daily), and 3) facilitated primary care provider (PCP) appointment scheduling and transportation (yes vs. no). The primary outcome was change in systolic BP (SBP) from baseline to 12 months. We fit linear regression models accounting for intervention components, age, sex, race and prior use of BP medications. Results: We randomized 488 participants to the intervention and 211 (43%) participants completed 12-month follow-up. The mean age was 45.5 years, 61% were women, 54% were Black people, 22% did not have a PCP, 10% were uninsured, 21% lacked transportation, 21% did not have a previous diagnosis of HTN and 51% were not taking BP medications. SBP declined in all 8 groups. Overall, across all groups, SBP declined (-9.2 mmHg, 95%CI, -12.2 to -6.3) after 6 months and (-6.6 mmHg, -9.3 to -3.8) after 12 months. In fully adjusted models, no intervention components were associated with a change in systolic BP at 12 months. Conclusions: Higher intensity of the intervention components were not associated with greater reduction in BP. Overall, participants receiving lower intensity levels of our intervention had reductions of BP that were clinically relevant. Future studies should focus on further tailoring intervention components to the needs of participants.