Can Text Messages Improve Health Care Delivery in Teens?

Keeping with a rising trend of using common technology in novel ways in order to improve health care, researchers at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital are using a tool familiar to many teenagers - text messaging.

Data has shown that teens and tweens typically do a poor job controlling chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure. A large contributor to this poor control is failure to adhere to sometimes complex medication dosing schedules. In an effort to improve this, investigators have started a pilot program that sends teens text messages to remind them that it is time to take their medicines.

Currently the study is limited to early teens with asthma, who receive a daily text message with quick reminders about which medicines should be taken that day. The time the message is sent is tailored to the individual patient schedule. The goal is to help prevent full blown asthma attacks and thus increase school attendance and decrease visits to the emergency room.

Data is scheduled to be published late this year and pilot studies are also planned for teens with diabetes and high blood pressure.