Effectiveness of mobile health interventions on management of patients with hypertension:a systematic review of systematic reviews

Si-Si Wu; Xue-Mei Tu; Gui-Qin Mou; Chun-Hua Long; Sha-Sha Li

doi:10.2478/FON-2025-0001

Abstract：Objective: To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of mobile health (mHealth) interventions on self-management and blood pressure (BP) control in patients with hypertension and to provide recommendations for the clinic and future research. Methods: Databases including Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang, and Weipu were searched to collect systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses on mHealth interventions for hypertension management. Two researchers independently screened the articles and extracted data, and the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR 2) was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included reviews. Results: A total of 11 SRs were included: 1 review was rated as high quality, 3 as low quality, and 7 as critically low quality. The mobile phone was the most common intervention type, followed by the internet. Seven reviews performed meta-analyses and showed that mHealth was associated with a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP), from 2.28 mmHg (95% CI -3.90 to -0.66; I2=40%) to 14.77 mmHg (95% CI 11.76-17.77; I2=89.7%), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), from 1.50 mmHg (95% CI -2.20 to -0.08; I2=62%) to 8.17 mmHg (95% CI 5.67-10.67; I2=86%). Self-management behaviors included medication adherence (MA), diet, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, and BP monitoring. There were inconsistent results on the effectiveness of mHealth interventions. Conclusions: mHealth interventions can improve BP control, MA, diet, and smoking in patients with hypertension, but the evidence for the efficacy of mHealth on physical activity and alcohol drinking improvement is limited. The methodological quality of existing SRs on the management of BP in patients with hypertension was relatively low, and more well-designed SRs or meta-analyses were needed to provide more evidence. mHealth interventions are useful for improving BP control of patients with hypertension.