National hypertension survey reveals huge digital health opportunities
In November 2020, Valencell conducted a research study on over 750 people with hypertension to understand the personal impact of managing the disease every day and the potential for digital health solutions to improve hypertension management. Hypertension is a massive global health issue affecting over one billion people worldwide. And many of those people don’t even know they have high blood pressure.
The survey revealed a number of interesting findings, which are outlined below. We’ve also linked to slides below that consolidate the findings into a summary presentation.
People with high blood pressure are not measuring BP enough
The first finding of interest was that people with hypertension aren’t measuring their blood pressure enough. In fact, 62% only measure a few times a month or less, but 76% of respondents would measure more if they could measure passively in their device of choice. We believe one of the primary ways to help people avoid getting hypertension in the first place or managing existing hypertension is to make it as easy as possible to regularly measure blood pressure. In fact, the Mayo Clinic recommends those with high BP measure twice daily. Measuring BP passively in devices that people already wear or use presents a breakthrough opportunity in this regard.
Blood pressure trending could be just as important as specific measurements
Over half of survey respondents (52%) are primarily interested in trending, not specific systolic and diastolic readings. In fact, 33% are most interested in know whether their BP is too low, normal or too high, while another 19% want to know whether their BP is trending too high or too low.
Finger clips and watches are preferred form factors for passive blood pressure monitoring
When asked about preferred device types or form factors to passively measure BP, respondents indicated a preference for finger clips (similar to pulse ox clips) in a slight edge of watches. Phones, fitness bands and earbuds rounded out the top 5 preferred device types.
Numerous comorbidities impact hypertension management
Comorbidities with high blood pressure are well-known and it showed in the responses to this survey. High cholesterol, obesity, and type-2 diabetes were the primary comorbidities with high blood pressure, although many other conditions surfaced in the data as well.
People with hypertension would like to measure BP in situations they currently can’t or don’t
One of the benefits of measuring BP passively is capturing BP readings when a BP cuff is not available or inconvenient to use. The survey respondents indicated numerous situations in which they would like to measure BP but don’t currently, including during or after a stressful event or before/after taking medication.
You can get these slides and others covering this research here and if you are interested in more information, please reach out to us at the Contact Us page.
Survey Methodology
The 2020 Blood Pressure Research Survey was conducted by Valencell from November 5-9, 2020. The online survey polled 787 U.S consumers, ages 18 and up, to understand how they manage hypertension and how that experience could be improved.