A Randomized Controlled Trial of SMS Text Messaging versus Postal Reminder to Improve Attendance after Lipid Lowering Therapy in Primary Care.
10.4082/kjfm.2010.31.4.284
- Author:
Sung Ja CHO
1
;
Young Sik KIM
;
Ho Cheol SHIN
;
Eun Ju SUNG
;
Dae Hyun KIM
;
Sangyeoup LEE
;
Tae Hee JEON
;
Yun Jun YANG
;
Chung Hwan CHO
;
Hee Cheol KANG
;
Yoo Seock CHEONG
Author Information
1. Department of Family Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. youngkim@amc.seoul.kr
- Publication Type:Randomized Controlled Trial ; Original Article
- Keywords:
Reminder;
Text Messaging;
Attendance;
Randomized Controlled Trial
- MeSH:
Compliance;
Cost Savings;
Family Practice;
Humans;
Multivariate Analysis;
Primary Health Care;
Text Messaging
- From:Korean Journal of Family Medicine
2010;31(4):284-293
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: In the primary care setting, compliance with lipid lowering therapy was relatively low. In order to compare the efficacy of a short messaging service (SMS) text messaging and postal reminder as means of improving attendance rates during the first 24 weeks of lipid-lowering therapy, a randomized controlled trial of 918 patients from 19 family practice clinics was conducted between February 2003 and June 2006. METHODS: Patients were randomly assigned into 3 groups: SMS (327), postal (294),and control (297) group. To ascertain attendance rates, patients were followed up at 24 weeks after their treatment. Reminders were sent at 16 weeks from the coordinating center. RESULTS: Overall attendance rate was 74.1%. This differed between groups, with 76.1% attendance for the SMS group, 73.5% for the postal group, and 72.4% for the control group. According to a multivariate analysis, the SMS group had a significantly higher attendance rate (Odds ratios [OR] 1.48; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 2.16) than the control group, but the postal group (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.69) did not. Moreover, the cost per attendance for the SMS reminder (155 Korean Won [KRW]) was much lower than that for the postal reminder (722 KRW). CONCLUSION: SMS reminder may be more cost saving method to improve the attendance rate compared with the postal reminder.
