Introduction:
Hypertension affects 108 million Americans. To help track and manage hypertension, there are many free and popular mobile health apps that track BP.
Hypothesis:
BP tracking mobile health apps have many downloads but do not fully educate the public about hypertension risk factors.
Methods:
“Blood Pressure” as a search term was used in the Google Play and Apple iOS stores to identify the most popular, free BP tracking apps aimed at the lay public. The top 10 most popular, free apps on each store were evaluated for educating the lay public on hypertension risk factors. Inclusion criteria: top 10 free blood pressure (BP) apps, by highest number of downloads on Google Play and highest rating (out of five stars) on Apple iOS Store (no available data on iOS downloads). Exclusion criteria: non-English, requiring a wearable device, primary purpose other BP tracking.
Results:
Of top 20 apps: BP log: 19/20, BP ranges: 13/20, height: 5/20, weight: 8/20, BMI: 3/20, race: 1/20, gender: 4/20, age: 6/20, diet: 1/20, exercise: 1/20, medication: 4/20, diabetes: 1/20, FBS: 1/20, goals: 3/20, mood/depression: 1/20. 2 apps mentioned the American Heart Association (AHA). None of the apps had information on cvriskcalculator.com, family history, cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, HbA1c, and alcohol use.
Conclusion:
Most free and popular BP apps monitor BP but largely ignore hypertension risk factors such as cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, alcohol intake, mood/depression, race, and gender. Furthermore, 7/20 apps do not uniformly educate patients that a normal BP is <120/<80, in accordance with the AHA and ACC guidelines. More collaboration may be needed between physicians and software developers to educate and meet the needs of our hypertensive patients in America.