Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2008 Jan;9(1):34-8.
doi: 10.1631/jzus.B071464.

Comparison of an SMS text messaging and phone reminder to improve attendance at a health promotion center: a randomized controlled trial

Zhou-Wen Chen  1 , Li-Zheng Fang, Li-Ying Chen, Hong-Lei Dai
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Comparison of an SMS text messaging and phone reminder to improve attendance at a health promotion center: a randomized controlled trial

Zhou-Wen Chen et al. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 2008 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To compare the efficacy of a short messaging service (SMS) text messaging and phone reminder to improve attendance rates at a health promotion center.

Methods: A total of 1 859 participants who had scheduled appointments in the health promotion center of our hospital from April 2007 to May 2007 were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned into 3 groups: control (no reminder) group, SMS text messaging reminder group and telephone reminder group. Attendance rates and costs of interventions were collected.

Results: A total of 1848 participants were eligible for analysis. Attendance rates of control, SMS and telephone groups were 80.5%, 87.5% and 88.3%, respectively. The attendance rates were significantly higher in SMS and telephone groups than that in the control group, with odds ratio 1.698, 95% confidence interval 1.224 to 2.316, P=0.001 in the SMS group, and odds ratio 1.829, 95% confidence interval 1.333 to 2.509, P<0.001 in the telephone group. However, there was no difference between the SMS group and the telephone group (P=0.670). The cost effectiveness analysis showed that the cost per attendance for the SMS group (0.31 Yuan) was significantly lower than that for the telephone group (0.48 Yuan).

Conclusion: SMS and telephone are effective reminders for improving attendance rate at a health promotion center. SMS reminder may be more cost-effective compared with the telephone reminder.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study population flowchart
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Battistotti A, Quaglini S, Cuoco E. Reducing dropouts in outpatient care through an SMS-based system. Stud Health Technol Inf. 2006;124:935–940. - PubMed
    1. Can S, Macfarlane T, O′Brien KD. The use of postal reminders to reduce non-attendance at an orthodontic clinic: a randomised controlled trial. Br Dent J. 2003;195(4):199–201. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.4810443. (Discussion in p.196) - DOI - PubMed
    1. Downer SR, Meara JG, Da Costa AC, Sethuraman K. SMS text messaging improves outpatient attendance. Aust Health Rev. 2006;30(3):389–396. - PubMed
    1. Geraghty M, Glynn F, Amin M, Kinsella J. Patient mobile telephone ‘text’ reminder: a novel way to reduce non-attendance at the ENT out-patient clinic. J Laryngol Otol. 2007;1:1–3. - PubMed
    1. Haynes JM, Sweeney EL. The effect of telephone appointment-reminder calls on outpatient absenteeism in a pulmonary function laboratory. Respir Care. 2006;51(1):36–39. - PubMed

Publication types