After I wrote a discouraging post regarding mobile health apps last week, I thought I would provide a ray of sunshine for true believers. A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined whether a text messaging intervention could help in the management of cardiovascular disease. (JAMA Article) The study was conducted in Australia with about 700 patients who had a confirmed diagnosis of serious coronary heart disease. The intervention group received four text messages a week for 6 months. The text messages gave advice, motivational reminders and support for lifestyle changes. The messages were somewhat tailored to the patient, but the intervention was not interactive. The intervention group also got usual care, which was the same as the treatment for the control arm of the study. Endpoints were lipid levels, especially “bad” cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index, physical activity and smoking status. After 6 months the intervention group had slightly, but significant, lower lipid levels and also showed greater improvement in the risk factor endpoints. The cost of the intervention was a very low $10 or less per patient. It would be useful to consider the study for a longer period of time to see if the effect grew or did the patients slip back. But this appears to be a cheap and modestly effective way to help manage a serious disease.
Mobile Text Messaging and Coronary Heart Disease Management
No Comments
✅ Subscribe via Email
About this Blog
Healthy Skeptic Podcast
Research
MedPAC 2019 Report to Congress
June 18, 2019
Headlines
Tags
Access
ACO
Care Management
Chronic Disease
Comparative Effectiveness
Consumer Directed Health
Consumers
Devices
Disease Management
Drugs
EHRs
Elder Care
End-of-Life Care
FDA
Financings
Genomics
Government
Health Care Costs
Health Care Quality
Health Care Reform
Health Insurance
Health Insurance Exchange
HIT
HomeCare
Hospital
Hospital Readmissions
Legislation
M&A
Malpractice
Meaningful Use
Medicaid
Medical Care
Medicare
Medicare Advantage
Mobile
Pay For Performance
Pharmaceutical
Physicians
Providers
Regulation
Repealing Reform
Telehealth
Telemedicine
Wellness and Prevention
Workplace
Related Posts
Commentary
September 28, 2023
Woke Health Care Is Deadly Health Care
Minnesota's hospitals inexcusably kill and injure a number of patients every year, and DEI is…
Commentary
September 27, 2023
Inflation and High Interest Rates Are Here to Stay
The new reality of higher inflation and interest rates for an extended period, and the…
Commentary
September 27, 2023
The Renewable Energy Scam Is Just Ludicrous
In a hilarious example of karma, governors (all Dems) of states with offshore wind farm…