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" Sending text message prompts to people on long-term medication could help them to adhere to their treatment regimes, a study suggests. Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research carried out a review of previous research into the effectiveness of electronic reminder services, after observing that many people with long-term conditions forget to take their medicines. They found 13 relevant studies involving patients with HIV, high blood pressure, asthma and glaucoma, as well as those on the contraceptive pill. Of these studies, four looked at the effectiveness of text messages; seven looked at audiovisual reminders from handheld devices; and two considered pagers. Publishing their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, the study authors revealed that nine of the studies found electronic reminders to be beneficial. Text messages appear to achieve the best results in the short term, but the researchers conceded that further studies are needed to determine their long-term efficacy. &amp;#039;The increasing opportunities of new technologies make it possible to tailor reminding both in timing (only when needed) and in content (tailored messages),&amp;#039; the study authors wrote. &amp;#039;Reminders can be especially used to modify the behaviour of ... patients who are willing to take their medication but who forget it or are inaccurate.&amp;#039; Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are two long-term diseases in which treatment adherence is a concern, with a study published in the journal Clinical Rheumatology in 2008 indicating that only one-third of patients reported never forgetting to take their drugs. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a22362/text-message-prompts-could-improve-treatment-adherence/>