(RHYME-RCT) Resistant HYpertension: MEasure to ReaCh Targets

Project summary

Erasmus MC developed a method to measure the concentrations of blood pressure lowering medicine in blood via the dried blood spot method (DBS). This method could be used on patients )with forms of hypertension that are difficult to treat) to see whether they have taken their medication properly.
In this multicenter randomized trial the concentrations of medicine will be measured among patients. Half of the patients will get a feed-back of these measurements and the other half will not be informed using a special developed communication strategy. This strategy has been developed by a psychologist and a sociologist and will investigate the reasons why patients stop or do not take their medication properly.

When effective, this method leads to less cardiovascular diseases which is better for patients and also leads to less costs in health care. In addition, this method could be used by the GP, who will focus on the reason why a patient does not take his/her medication properly, which saves time and extra costs, which is the case if the patient would be referred by the GP to a hospital.