Mobile Health, Blood Pressure, and Women’s Heart Disease Risk
Dr Jayne Morgan, a cardiologist and Vice President of medical affairs at Hello Heart, discusses findings from a study presented at the American College of Cardiology on blood pressure reduction among midlife women using the Hello Heart mobile health system. The study revealed that although men and women started with similar systolic blood pressure levels, women experienced a greater reduction and engaged more with the device. Dr Morgan emphasizes that 80% of heart disease is preventable through lifestyle changes and underscores the need for more research on women's health beyond reproductive issues, as women remain underrepresented in clinical trials. She advocates for increased awareness and funding to address these knowledge gaps and improve cardiovascular outcomes for women.
This study will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 74th Annual Scientific Session & Expo on March 29, 2025 in Chicago, IL.
Reference:
- Lyson H, Roberts W, Edo Paz Y, Morgan J. Engagement and blood pressure reduction among female participants of a mobile health cardiovascular program. Paper presented at: American College of Cardiology's 74th Annual Scientific Session & Expo; March 29-31, 2025; Chicago, IL. Accessed March 20, 2025. https://accscientificsession.acc.org/
TRANSCRIPTION
Jayne Morgan, MD: Hello, my name is Dr Jane Morgan. I am a cardiologist and the vice president of medical affairs for Hello Heart. Today I'll be discussing an abstract that was submitted to the American College of Cardiology utilizing data on our Hello Heart mobile health cardiovascular system. It is entitled "Engagement and Blood Pressure Reduction among Female Participants of a Mobile Health Cardiovascular Program."
Consultant360: What are the key themes of your presentation?
Dr Morgan: The key themes are related to gender comparisons, especially with midlife women, pairing them to midlife men and determining whether or not there is a difference in blood pressure reduction.
This is incredibly important because during the period of perimenopause and menopause, a woman's blood pressure can begin to increase and we know that hypertension is a significant risk factor for heart disease and that heart disease remains the number one killer of women.
D360: What were the findings of this study?
Dr Morgan: What we discovered when we look at the data is that even though baseline systolic blood pressure starts at about the same for both men and women, the women experienced a greater reduction or a greater delta than the men towards the end of the trial. We also saw that women had a greater engagement with the Hello Heart mobile health device than men do. And so there's likely a correlation, not only with gender, but to the intensity and the amount and the level of engagement with the system.
C360: Why do you feel this topic is particularly relavant right now?
Dr Morgan: Incredibly relevant. You know, 80% of all heart disease here in the United States is preventable. There's only about 20% that's really due to congenital anomalies or cholesterol anemias, familial hypercholesterolemia or Lp(a). 80% of it really is related to lifestyle behavior choices that we make the way that we live our environment. And it's that 80% that we really want to impact and drive the rates of heart disease down, not only for women, but for men as well. Heart disease is the number one killer of men as well. We specifically want to look at women specifically in this midlife area because we have built out an algorithm within Hello Heart for menopause, for women in perimenopause and menopause, where They can follow an algorithm and make certain that they are getting care and guidance that's very specific to their needs.
C360: What are the most important takeaways for clinicians in practice?
Dr Morgan: The most important takeaway is that adding a mobile health device that is best in class and focused on high blood pressure, focused on hypertension, actually is a great adjunct to help your patients control their blood pressure and continue to lower their risk of heart disease. We've seen that as well when we cut when we add this mobile health device to patients who are taking GLP -1s or these Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, and what we've seen is patients who are using this mobile health monitor device, specifically Hello Heart, because these were the patients that we took a look at, it shows that those that were using that device maintain their weight loss.
You know, the greatest complaint about people who are on GLP-1s is once you stop taking them, you have a rebound effect. So we saw that people who were utilizing the device, even if they stop taking GLP-1s, maintain that weight loss, and those who continued on the GLP-1s actually had another four to five pound weight loss if they were engaged with the mobile health device that is specific to blood pressure.
And you may ask, why is it blood pressure the main reason? It turns out that if you can focus just on one thing and do it well, as we do at Hello Heart, best in class on blood pressure, then all of those behavioral changes, that engagement, the work that you are putting in to take your medications and be compliant and respond to that digital coaching, it has a downstream effect in lowering your cholesterol and decreasing your weight as well.
C360: Are there any gaps in knowledge that remain, and areas you feel future research should focus on?
Dr Morgan: There are so many gaps. We are only just at the precipice of this. Women's health is so vast. We really have reduced women's health for all of eternity to just reproduction, just breast and pelvis. And it turns out that women have hearts and brains and livers and kidneys and arms and legs just like everyone else. And so we really are on the precipice. Women have not traditionally been included in clinical trials. And when we do have clinical trials, they generally are confined to the areas of reproduction, even though heart disease is the number one killer of women. So even just getting that messaging out, it turns out in a recent survey that only 44 % of people even recognize that heart disease is the number one killer of women. So that recognition needs to increase.
And then of course, funding for research, making certain that women are included in clinical trials because there are so many gaps to feel in our knowledge of women outside of our reproduction system.