Effect of a mobile health intervention optimised with artificial intelligence on blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors in adults with high blood pressure: Rationale and design of My Intelligent Cardiac Assistant (MICArdiac) Randomised Controlled Trial

IntroductionControl of blood pressure (BP) continues to be a challenge globally. Clinical trials have shown home BP monitoring and text-message interventions to lower BP. Integrating these to personalise supportive messaging in response to changing BP and activity through leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) could improve BP control. The aim of this trial is to examine the impact on BP, compared to a text-message only program, of the My Intelligent Cardiac Assistant (MICArdiac) program. MICArdiac is a 6-month program comprising tracking of BP, physical activity and heart rate informing a content stream of AI-driven personalised messages to encourage BP self-management, as-necessary medical review to up-titrate medicines and cardiovascular preventative behavioural change. Methods and analysisMICArdiac is a prospective randomized open-blinded endpoint randomised controlled trial with 1:1 (intervention:control) allocation and active control. Individuals aged 35 years old or above with high BP are randomised to the MICArdiac program or to a text-message cardiovascular education program. Recruitment started in primary care and hospital clinics in Western Sydney and moved to decentralised direct-to-community recruitment in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, and Victoria. Randomisation and allocation concealment occur via a secure web-based system. The primary outcome is mean daytime systolic BP measured by 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring at 6 months. Primary analysis will follow intention-to-treat principles; data analysts will be blinded. Process evaluation will be conducted. The study has recruited 451 participants, giving it 94% power to detect a difference of 4 mmHg in the primary outcome. EthicsEthics approval was obtained from Western Sydney Local Health District Human Ethics Research Committee (2021/ETH11379). Clinical trials registration numberAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Registration number: ACTRN12622000091707).