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
Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Jan 19;23(1):18.
doi: 10.1186/s12902-023-01268-8.

What is the effect of mobile phone text message reminders on medication adherence among adult type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abebe Muche Belete  1 , Belete Negese Gemeda  2 , Tadesse Yirga Akalu  3 , Yared Asmare Aynalem  2 , Wondimeneh Shibabaw Shiferaw  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

What is the effect of mobile phone text message reminders on medication adherence among adult type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abebe Muche Belete et al. BMC Endocr Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Globally, type 2 diabetes has become increasing. As little is known about the effect of educational intervention on this population, this systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of mobile phone text message reminders versus usual care to improve medication adherence among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and African Journals Online, were searched. A random-effects model was employed to estimate combined effect sizes. Subgroup analyses were employed to investigate possible sources of heterogeneity between studies. The overall certainty of the evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach.

Results: A total of 9 trials with 1,121 participants were included in the review. The pooled estimated impact of mobile phone text message reminders on medication adherence was (SMD: 0.36; 95%CI; 0.14, 0.59) compared to usual care groups among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. In addition, subgroup analyses revealed greater medication adherence levels in those studies with intervention durations of more than six months and with self-report/refill adherence scale measurement (SMD: 0.21; 95%CI: 0.02, 0.40) and (SMD: 0.45; 95%CI: 0.22, 0.68), respectively.

Conclusion: Mobile phone text messages can potentially lead to improved medication adherence levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes despite heterogeneity across the studies. Therefore, mobile phone text messaging when delivered in addition to usual care, have the potential to produce significant improvements in medication adherence.

Keywords: Medication adherence; Mobile phone text message; Type 2 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram for study selection
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Risk of bias graph: review authors' judgments about each risk of bias as percentages across all included studies
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Risk of bias summary: review authors' judgments about each risk of bias in each included study
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The effect of mobile phone text message intervention to improve medication adherence
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Subgroup analysis based on measures of medication adherence
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Subgroup analysis based on the duration of intervention
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Publication bias among included studies
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Fan W. Epidemiology in diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular endocrinology. 2017;6(1):8. doi: 10.1097/XCE.0000000000000116. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health organization GroD, Geneva, 2016. Accessed 30 August 2016.
    1. Cho N, Shaw J, Karuranga S, Huang Y, da Rocha FJ, Ohlrogge A, Malanda B. IDF Diabetes Atlas: Global estimates of diabetes prevalence for 2017 and projections for 2045. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2018;138:271–281. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2018.02.023. - DOI - PubMed
    1. International diabetes federation. IDF Diabetes Atlas teB, Belgium: International Diabetes Federation. 2015. .
    1. Zheng Y, Ley SH, Hu FB. Global aetiology and epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2018;14(2):88. doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2017.151. - DOI - PubMed