Objective: To explore relationships between patients’ self-monitoring of blood pressure and their concurrent self-reports of medication intake, wellbeing stress, physical activity and symptoms.

Design and method: This was a prospective study exploring the eight-week effectiveness of a mobile phone based self-management support system for patients with hypertension. 50 patients undergoing treatment for hypertension, from four primary health care centers situated in urban and suburban communities in Sweden, self-reported through the system once daily during eight weeks.

Scientific data: Associations between systolic and diastolic blood pressure and 10 self-report lifestyle-related variables.

Results: The single strongest association was found between medication intake and systolic blood pressure, where failure to take medications was associated with an estimated 7.44 mmHg higher systolic blood pressure. To a lesser degree, medication intake was also associated with diastolic blood pressure. Wellbeing and stress were consistently associated with systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, whereas physical activity was associated with only systolic blood pressure. None of the symptoms dizziness, headache, restlessness, fatigue or palpitations were significantly associated with blood pressure.

Conclusions: Blood pressure was associated with patients’ blood pressure management behaviors, eg drug intake and experiences of wellbeing and stress. No association was found between blood pressure and side effects. Enabling persons with hypertension to monitor and track their BP in relation to medication intake, symptoms and life-style variables may be a fruitful way to help them gain first-hand understanding of the importance of adherence and persistence to treatment recommendations.