Use of Tailored Short Messaging Services to Improve Medication Adherence in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

The objective of this study aims to find the effectiveness of use of tailored SMS medication reminders to improve patient medication adherence. An observational study was carried out over a period of 6 months in discharged patients of a tertiary care referral hospital in Kerala. 347 patients were enrolled prospectively from various departments. The subjects were randomized into intervention and control group in 1:1 ratio. Medication adherence was assessed using indirect- subjective patient interviewing method during pre and post intervention phase. From the post-intervention interview it was found that the level of adherence has significantly improved in intervention group (71.4%) compared to the control group (25%). The outcomes of the study revealed that female population (N= 158) is more likely to have metabolic diseases and this might be due to menopause, obesity, lack of exercise, diet and other lifestyles. In this study hypertension was found to be predominant (65.1%) followed by type II diabetes mellitus (55.9%) and dyslipidemia (44.4%). This study demonstrated the effectiveness of use of tailored SMS medication reminders to improve mediation adherence in patients with metabolic syndrome. Text message reminders significantly improve medication adherence and seems to be feasible for clinical use