Improving Blood Pressure Among African Americans With Hypertension Using a Mobile Health Approach (the MI-BP App): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background African Americans shoulder significant disparities related to hypertension (HTN), which is a serious public health problem in the city of Detroit, Michigan, where more than 80% of the population is African American. Connectivity through smartphones, use of home blood pressure (BP) monitoring, and newly developed mobile health (mHealth) interventions can facilitate behavioral changes and may improve long-term self-care for chronic conditions, but implementation of a combined approach utilizing these methods has not been tested among African American patients with uncontrolled HTN. Since African Americans are more likely than other racial or ethnic subgroups to utilize the emergency department (ED) for ambulatory care, this presents an opportunity to intervene on a population that is otherwise difficult to reach.