Abstract: Background Monitoring blood pressure is not easily accessible to doctors for patients on hemodialysis. The development of telemedicine has made mobile blood pressure monitor on the cloud possible. Methods A mobile blood pressure monitor and cloud platform, named H-cloud (Hypertension-cloud) was developed, which consists of portable blood pressure devices and background recording cloud platform. Blood pressure was first measured by sphygmomanometer and then sent to mobile devices via wire or blue- tooth. The mobile devices then sent the data to the background cloud platform under 3G networks. The data, graph depicts, medication information and interaction between doctors and patients could be checked on the mobile devices or on the website. Local patients on regular hemodialysis willing to participate in the study were recruited and trained for use of the system for a period of 3 months. A questionnaire was handed out at the end of the study as the feedback. Results There were 23 patients participating in the study. Their median dialysis duration was 22 months, and their mean dialysis time was 11.7±0.9 hours/week. 39.1% patients were caused by hypertensive nephropathy. 22 patients received antihypertensive treatment. In the three months monitoring, the average number of days to measure was 37.0, and the maximal day of continuous monitoring was 81.0. 34.8% patients were monitored three times a day. The average proportion of hypertension in monitoring data was 60.0%. At the end of the research, 22 patients participated in the questionnaire. The item of‘the safety of the system’had the highest score (4.5±0.5), while the item of‘the convenience of the system’and‘the reliability of the data transmission’had the lowest score, with 3.8±1.0 and 3.8±0.9 for each. However, all of them spoke highly of the potential of the system. Conclusions The H-cloud system with mobile blood pressure monitor and cloud platform can be potentially used among patients on hemodialysis at home. However, a more advanced system has to be developed in the future.

Key words: blood pressure, hemodialysis, mobile applications,, telemedicine