Publication: Effect of Weekly Text Messaging Reminders on Medication Adherence in Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus at a Tertiary Care Center in Eastern Nepal
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kathmandu University
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background
The short-message service (SMS) reminder techniques are found to be important in
increasing medication adherence in non-communicable diseases.
Objective
To assess the effect of SMS on medication adherence in hypertension and/or type 2
diabetes mellitus.
Method
An observational study was conducted in the outpatient department using a semi-
structured questionnaire. Patients having hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes
mellitus and taking at least one medication and having low to medium adherence
were enrolled and short-message service was sent to them twice a week for up to
two months reminding them to take medications as prescribed. At the end of two
months, medication adherence was assessed using SPSS at P-value less than 0.05.
Result
Out of 105 patients, 64 (60.95%) were females. The mean age (±SD) was 51.15 ±
11.01 years. After two months of the short-message service reminders, majority of
the patients were graded as having high adherence (73.33%) followed by medium
adherence (20.0%) and low adherence (6.67%). The mean medication adherence
scores on day one and after two months were 5.50 ± 1.14 and 7.50 ± 0.93 respectively
(P-value=0.000). A high medication adherence was seen in individuals aged above 45
years (75.7%), males (78.0%) and those using a basic mobile phone (76.7%) after
two months of follow-up; however it was statistically not significant (P-value > 0.05).
Conclusion
The SMS reminders had significantly improved the medication adherence in patients
with hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, none of the baseline
variables were significantly associated with improvement in the adherence.
KEY WORDS
Hypertension, Medication adherence, Text messages, Type 2 diabetes
Description
Sarraf DP,1 Rauniar GP,1 Gupta PP,2 Maskey R,3 Kattel V3
1Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
2Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine
3Department of Internal Medicine
B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal
Keywords
Hypertension, Medication adherence, Text messages, Type 2 diabetes