ESC Congress 2026 AbstractOct 30, 2026, 00:14 GMT

Text reminders did not clearly boost blood pressure rechecks

Repeat kiosk checks occurred in 12.0% with text reminders versus 9.8% with usual care among 2,281 adults with raised blood pressure.

Paper by A Schutte, S R Gnanenthiran, I Tan, +8A Rodgers · The George Institute for Global Health

Blood pressure kiosks stand beside equally sized groups of upright figures, with a phone showing a message bubble in one group.

Our read

Interventions

Studied:: Randomized trial in 2,281 adults with raised kiosk blood pressure, against usual care (Multicenter)
What changed:: Repeat kiosk blood pressure checks did not clearly increase with texts: 12.0% versus 9.8% with usual care
The catch:: Counting only kiosk rechecks could miss blood pressure checks at doctors' offices
Why it’s aging research:: It bears on staying healthy in midlife and later life.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

In a cluster-randomized trial, 2,281 adults aged 18 or older had raised blood pressure at kiosks in 30 hardware stores in New South Wales, Australia. Men made up 66% of participants. Eligible readings were at least 140/90 mmHg. Stores were assigned to usual care or automated texts at 1, 2 and 12 weeks encouraging repeat checks, doctor visits and self-care.

Texts did not significantly increase repeat kiosk checks overall, but increased them among men and participants from higher socioeconomic areas. Texts were also associated with greater self-reported doctor attendance: 88% versus 79% with usual care. The groups did not differ significantly in blood pressure changes, reaching target blood pressure, weight or body fat percentage.

Why it matters

High blood pressure is an age-related health concern. The trial addressed how screening outside clinics might connect people with follow-up care.

Caveats

The trial randomized 30 stores rather than individuals, and only 12.0% of the text group and 9.8% of controls repeated kiosk checks. Doctor attendance was exploratory and self-reported; the findings do not cover children, adults with normal kiosk readings or people who declined mobile contact.