Current research projects

Study Title: Staying Healthy After Childbirth-My Hypertension Education And Reaching Target Postpartum (STAC-MyHEARTp)

What is STAC?

Staying Healthy After Childbirth (STAC)is a program that helps new moms with high blood pressure safely monitor and treat their high blood pressure from the comfort of their home. We send people home with special equipment that allows for daily remote monitoring and the ability to interact in real time with health care professionals to guide and support them through six weeks after delivery.

What is MyHEART?

MyHEART stands for the My Hypertension Education and Reaching Target program, and its goal is to share information with young adults to help them live a healthier life, lower their blood pressure, and prevent heart disease. 

The MyHEART research program focuses on increasing young adult self-management skills to promote heart healthy choices and lower blood pressure. It is a theoretical based health coaching program tailored to young adults with hypertension, and includes four evidence-based self-management components:

  1. Telephone-based health coaching with adult education specialists to teach and monitor self-management skills
  2. Electronic health record documentation of coach-patient telephone contacts
  3. Individualized hypertension education materials
  4. Home blood pressure monitoring

Who can participate in the STAC MyHEART-p study?

Participants will enroll in the study towards the end of their participation in STAC and continue with the program for approximately 12-months postpartum.

Why is this study important??

Postpartum hypertension is a common problem, especially in those people who experienced hypertension during their pregnancy or have chronic hypertension. As many as 30% of people with hypertension during pregnancy and chronic hypertension still experience persistent hypertension that may still require treatment with a medication beyond 6-weeks postpartum.  Hypertension during pregnancy can become permanent and lead to long-term adverse cardiovascular health outcomes.

Brief Summary of the STAC MyHEART-p study:

The study, Staying Healthy After Childbirth (STAC) and My Hypertension Education And Reaching Target (MyHEART) for postpartum (p) patients will determine if health coaching can increase 12-month postpartum care attendance, hypertension control and hypertension self-management behavior compared to usual clinical care in patients with chronic hypertension or persistent pregnancy associated hypertension - postpartum. 140 participants (70 in each study group) will be enrolled and can expect to be on study for 12 months.

The program will attain these goals through a multi-component, patient-centered, theoretically-based intervention designed to increase self-management using evidence-based health behavior approaches to lower blood pressure and improve long-term outcomes. To do this, the 12-month program provides:

  1. Personalized health coaching with a specialist to teach and monitor self-management skills;
  2. Daily, home blood pressure monitoring;
  3. Participant surveys cataloguing lifestyle aspects and nutrition, and
  4. EMR analysis for tracking changes over 12-months postpartum.

If you are interested in learning more about the STAC-MyHEARTp program or want to see if you are eligible to participate, please contact the study team at

STAC-MyHEARTp_obgyn@wisc.edu

Or call 608-556-9708

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05685251

Research Summary

The MyHEART Study: My Hypertension Education And Reaching Target

Hoppe et al. JAMA Network Open. 2023;6(2):e2255618. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2002.55618

Clinical Problem

More than 10 million individuals aged 18 to 39 years (1 in 5 men; 1 in 6 women) have hypertension, which increases the risk of premature heart failure, stroke, and chronic kidney disease. Less than 50% of young adults have achieved blood pressure (BP) control.

Clinical Trial

DESIGN: This randomized clinical trial included male and female participants aged 18 to 39 years with uncontrolled hypertension confirmed by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (AMBP) testing from October 2017 to February 2022.

INTERVENTION: The My Hypertension Education and Reaching Target (MyHEART) intervention consisted of telephone health coaching every 2 weeks for 6 months, with home blood pressure monitoring. Control patients received routine hypertension care.

Results

There was no significant difference between control and intervention groups for 24-hour AMBP nor clinic systolic or diastolic blood pressure at 6 or 12 months. Both groups showed a reduction in blood pressure.

The MyHEART intervention did result in positive behavior changes for BP management.

Conclusions

  • The MyHEART intervention did not demonstrate a significant change in systolic or diastolic blood pressures at 6 or 12 months between study groups.
  • However, both study groups had an appreciable reduction in blood pressure.
  • Intervention participants had a significant reduction in dietary sodium intake, increased physical activity, and increased home blood pressure monitoring compared with control participants.

These findings suggest that the MyHEART intervention could support behavioral changes in young adults with uncontrolled hypertension.

Summary

The MyHEART intervention could support behavioral changes in young adults with uncontrolled hypertension.