Intervention Based on Integration of Health Literacy and Health Outcomes in Hypertension “A Systematic Review”

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive patients with low health literacy rarely visit health services, therefore, they have more chances of being hospitalized in comparison with those having a more adequate health literacy. AIM: This article aims to identify intervention based on integration of health literacy and its outcome in hypertensive patients. METHODS: Articles were searched using four bibliographic databases, namely, ProQuest, Science Direct, PubMed, and Google Scholar. PRISMA 2015 is used as a guideline for determining which articles are selected, one of the criteria being published on 2011–2021. RESULTS: A total of 25,264 articles were obtained from the four databases. Seven articles were selected after the extraction and incorporation of the inclusion criteria. The health outcomes of hypertension sufferers after receiving intervention based on integration of health literacy were divided into three groups; medical health outcomes, health literacy skills, and hypertension self-management behavioral. CONCLUSION: An intervention integrated with health literacy and considering the hypertensive patient health literacy in its own will increase the health outcomes of hypertensive patient.

Development of IoT Based Cuffless Blood Pressure Measurement System

Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, is a major concern for people globally and in Malaysia. The hypertensive patient must commute to the hospital visiting their physician regularly for blood pressure (BP) monitoring using a cuff-based device. The patient may feel uncomfortable and pain when the device inflates the cuff and tightens around the arm for a BP measurement. Hence, to overcome this problem, this paper proposed a cuffless BP measurement using pulse transit time (PTT). In this method, a delay time between the peak of Photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals at the fingertip and the earlobe were correlated with BP. These signals were transferred to a computer via Arduino uno microcontroller and analyzed by the MATLAB R2019a software. A preliminary result shows that the developed system is able to record PTT and display the estimated BP value on the ThingSpeak webpage and ThingView apps. With the IoT platform, the cuffless BP can be monitor remotely, and the results can be store on the cloud healthcare system for hypertensive management.

Case report of COVID-19 in a Hypertensive patient: Ayurvedic add on therapy

COVID-19 has affected negatively day to day life and global economy. Considering need for search of immunity modulator drugs for fighting this virus, Ayurvedic treatment was planned. 30 year old female patient, having history of the hypertension was diagnosed as a case of COVID-19 through RT-PCR. AYUSH Kwath (20 ml OD for 7 days), Sanshamani vati(2BD for 7 days), Sudarshan churn (3gm for14 days), Vit –C and Azithromycin given orally for 5 days. RT-PCR sample result was found COVID negative on 7th day of treatment. Antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, immune-modulatory activities were documented earlier of used medications which have shown beneficial result in present case also. Orally administered, add on Ayurvedic formulation exerted symptomatic relief in symptomatic COVID-19 case with pitta-kapha prakriti having co-morbidity of Hypertension. RCT needs to be conducted to validate result in larger sample which will generate evidence for support.

Is Fahr’s disease a saviour for intracranial hypertensive bleeds? - A review

Fahr’s disease (FD) is a rare disorder characterised by abnormal deposition of calcium in different parts of brain especially in basal ganglia, thalamus and dentate nucleus. Association of FD with ischemic stroke has been described in past but very less literature available showing association of FD with haemorrhagic stroke. We present here a case of 70 years old hypertensive male patient suffering from FD with left thalamic acute haemorrhage. Although basal ganglia is a common site for hypertensive bleed, but in this hypertensive patient, basal ganglia was spared. We assume that this could be due to presence of calcification within vessel walls of basal ganglia that strengthen the walls and hence act as a saviour for basal ganglia bleed in this case.

Hypertensive Patient Compliance with Pharmacist Intervention: A Systematic Review

Background: Pharmacists and physicians can work together to improve patient compliance especially for the management of hypertension. Medication adherence leads to advance health and reduces hospitalizations (morbidity), death (mortality) and healthcare costs. Objectives: Involvement of pharmacist in treatment intervention can result in improved understanding about hypertension and it can increase medication adherence to antihypertensive therapy which ultimately advance overall quality of life. Study design and methods: A comprehensive research study was conducted using two eminent databases i.e. PUBMED and EMBASE. The research articles from 1996 to 2015 were analyzed. All the selected articles were about pharmacist intervention, hypertensive patient compliance and hypertension medication adherence. Results: Some studies show no control in BP; however, there was significant difference in the systolic and diastolic BP pre and post pharmacist intervention (Systolic from 158.1±14.4 to 143.8 ± 10.7, Diastolic from 100.6 ±11.5 to 89.8 ± 9.7). Conversely, in some studies BP was controlled in about 29.9% of control group and in 63% of the intervention group. Conclusion: Results showed many methods can improve medication adherence and blood pressure including counseling patients in person, collaboration between pharmacists and physicians, and using technology like telecommunication to intensify patients counseling. Pharmacist intervention can significantly increase disease-related knowledge, blood pressure control and medication adherence in patients with hypertension.