About us

We specialize in high blood pressure

Blodtrycksdoktorn – ”The blood pressure doctor ” offers Sweden’s first digital healthcare service that is specially adapted for patients with high blood pressure. High blood pressure or hypertension as it is also called, is the single biggest cause of cardiovascular disease such as stroke and heart attack. In Sweden, about 2 million adults are diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Currently, there are both digital health centers and health apps for logging blood pressure, but no healthcare service that combines both, focusing on individualized care for chronic illness.

Our goal

Our goal is to give you control of your high blood pressure for a healthier life, more efficient and close care, and reduce the burden on traditional health care in the case of chronic diseases.

We are good at what we do

We are a team of doctors, nurses, researchers, health scientists and IT developers. We believe in what we do and know it is important. We always rely on science and care about humanity, the environment and our society.

We take high blood pressure very seriously

We are driven by the mission of making our society work well and smooth in the future. We know that things can be done in a new and more efficient way. And we know that the treatment of chronic diseases can be made better.

Studies show that measuring the blood pressure at home gives more accurate and frequent figures, and thus it can also be treated with higher precision in medication and counseling. Therefore, we offer a digital service that is genuinely personalised on every level, easy for the patient, and with continuous follow-up and quick action from doctors in cases of deviation.

By making healthy lifestyle choices patients with hypertension can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. We supply patients with educational material tailored to the specific situation of the patient.

This means better health for the patient and that we ease the workload and economic burden in traditional care.

 

Published research from Blodtrycksdoktorn using the Accumbo Medical System

1. A pilot study of hypertension management using a telemedicine treatment approach

Our Proof of Concept study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring 2020, 25:18–21.

Summary

We investigated if home BP measurements combined with telemonitoring based on a smartphone application (using the Accumbo Medical System) increased the proportion of patients with controlled hypertension during three months.

Patients were between 35-70 years of age, had hypertension, and had to be prescribed with 1-3 antihypertensive drugs. They also had to be owners of an Iphone to which the dedicated ACCUMBO software was downloaded. They were provided with a semi-automatic oscillometric home blood pressure (HBP) measuring unit, with appropriate cuff size, that sent data to the ACCUMBO telemedicine device by Bluetooth.

The final cohort comprised of 172 participants (78 men and 94 women), being on average 56.3±7.1 years. The 117 patients with home blood pressures above target during the first week had their BP lowered (from 138.0±9.0 / 91.3±6.5 mmHg to 133.4±8.0 / 88.6±6.1 mmHg, p< 0.001 for systolic and p< 0.0001 for diastolic BP, respectively). A question about perceived care was answered by 156 participants. Fifty-eight (37%) rated the care quality as “very high”, 53 (34%) rated it as “fairly high”, 41 (26%) rated it as “neither low nor high” and four (3%) rated it as “fairly low”. The study was approved by the Regional Ethics Committee of Linköping and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975. The ClinicalTrials.gov ID number was NCT03908710.Abstract could be seen here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31658109

Full study can be seen here

Article in Blood Pressure Monitoring

2. Using mobile health technology (mHealth) to increase knowledge about hypertensive patients requests and health behaviors. Published Sept 2019 in Hypertension

vol 74 issue Suppl 1.

Abstract awarded 2019 Paul Dudley White International Scholar at the Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2019 Conference. Hypertension 2019 Scientific Sessions, American Heart, NewOrleans 2019.

Abstract P2058: Using Mobile Health Technology to Increase Knowledge About Hypertensive Patients Requests and Health Behaviors

Summary of the study

Raised blood pressure (hypertension) is the biggest single contributor to global mortality. Only a minority of patients with high blood pressure reach their blood pressure target. Reasons for poor disease control include no non-adherence and lack of patient engagement.

Preventive strategies are therefore urgently needed. The use of virtual health intervention and the use of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) has been shown to improve empowerment, compliance and blood pressure control.The aim of the present study was to use a smartphone application for hypertension treatment

to investigate the patients perception of how hypertension affected their lives, whether they had received lifestyle advice from their physician and their use of health apps and dietary supplements. The study was approved by the Regional Ethics Committee of Linköping, Sweden.

The target group was patients between 40-70 years of age with self-reported diagnosis of primary hypertension without diabetes or major cardiovascular complications living in Stockholm, Sweden (males/females 132/153, mean age 58 years). They were prescribed at least one and no more than three antihypertensive drugs. When a patient had been included in the study, a smartphone application (Accumbo AB, Kalmar, Sweden) was downloaded to the Iphone of the patient. HBPM were measured with a Bluetooth connected oscillometric BP monitor (Truly). Mean blood pressure was 135/87 mmHg. A questionnaire with 140 health-and treatment- related questions was filled in electronically by the patient.

Results: 71 % (190 out of 267) of the patients responded that they had got no never recieved information from their doctor of regarding the aetiology of their disease. Only 37 % (103 out of 277) responded that individual health advice had been given.

Asked Eighty seven percent (247 out of 284) of the patients were aware if they knew that elevated blood pressure can could lead to stroke, kidney disease, heart disease or dementia 87 % (247 out of 284) said yes.

When asked “How is your health in general”? 54% (154 out of 285) responded good or very good health. On the other hand 47% (128 out of 281) of patients answered that having an elevated the elevated blood pressure affected their daily activities.Most patients, 79 % (222 out of n=282) wanted to lose weight, 21% (n=58) were satisfied with their current weight and only 1 patient (0.3%) wanted to gain weight.

Forty percent (110 out of 278) stated that they received little or very little daily exercise. Sixty eight % (190 out of 279) wanted to increase their daily physical activity if possible. Only 8% (26 out of 279) did not want to increase their daily exercise.

Summary:Despite the extensive knowledge of the importance of treating and thus preventing complications of hypertension, in the current study, few hypertensive patients had received individual lifestyle advice although the majority of patients had a desire for weight loss and increased physical activity. The use of alternative therapies such as dietary supplements and health and lifestyle apps were very common. Traditional healthcare should increase the use of digital questionnaires in order to obtain increased information regarding lifestyle factors for better targeted treatment.

Poster New Orleans

PDFslides New Orleans

3. A prospective trial of hypertension management using a telemedicine treatment approach. Presented at Patient Centered Meeting on Diabetes, Dyslipidemia and Hypertension, Okt, 2019 – 03 Nov, 2019, Vienna, Austria

Presentation Vienna, 3 Nov 2019

4. BLOOD PRESSURE DOCTOR – A NEW EVIDENCE-BASED EFFECTIVE DIGITAL CARE SYSTEM FOR HYPERTENSION TREATMENT USING TELEMEDICINE AND MOBILE HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Presented at diabetes conference ATTD, Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes, Madrid Spain 19-22 Feb 2020. 437 / Abstract ID 481
Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics.Feb 2020.A-1-A-250.http://doi.org/10.1089/dia.2020.2525.abstracts

Poster ATTD congress Madrid 2019 Blood pressure doctor

The Management Team

Jonas Wohlin – Chief Executive Officer

Lisa WållgrenChief Marketing and Communications Officer

Christian ToftChief Product Officer

Anna HeimdahlHead of Finance

Simon NordChief Technical Officer

Ghassan DarwicheChief Medical Officer – Research & Development

Peter GieseckeChief Medical Officer – Operations