TENSIOBOT: A CHATBOT ASSISTANT FOR SELF-MANAGED IN-HOUSE BLOOD PRESSURE CHECKING

Objective: Patients with HBP are often asked to have their BP checked at home. The traditional at-home procedure has some drawbacks, such as forgetting to check or write down the values, errors in transcribing the numbers, or the impossibility of immediately notifying medical staff of out-of-range BP values. To facilitate self-measurements by patients at home we devised TensioBot, a Telegram based chatbot. The bot sends patients reminders to check their BP, advice on good monitoring practices, measurement tracking, medical alerts and allows healthcare professionals to access up-to-date measurement information. The aim of our study was to compare the use of Tensiobot against usual method of home BP checking. Design and method: In an Clinical Hypertension Unit, we tested TensioBot for two years in a andomised controlled trial with 112 patients, 55 using the bot and 57 in the control group, (using paper annotations). Patients of both groups underwent an ABMP study at the same time. An specific questionnaire about knowledge and skills on BP checking was administered face to face by an specialized nurse of the unit. Results: We found that, although the bot group showed similar results in terms of adherence to the BP checking schedule, bot users scored better in terms of knowledge and skills on BP checking best practices. Patients of bot group shown a lesser mean difference between ABPM mean diurnal SBP and SBP registered by Tensiobot, -0.34 mmHg vs -2.5 mmHg, although such difference was not significant. The standard deviation of differences in SBP was higher in the control group. Conclusions: Participants rated the bot very positively, perceived it as useful and easy to use, and continued to use it after the intervention. Moreover, all data being equal, we describe some other benefits of using a chatbot for self-managed in-house BP control, both for patients and healthcare professionals and systems. There was a trend to closer values to diurnal ABPM in SPB using the bot.