The effect of text message reminders on medication adherence among patients with coronary heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: To determine the effectiveness of text message reminders (TMR) on medication adherence (MA) and to investigate the effects of TMR on clinical outcomes. METHODS: The PubMed, Cochrane library, EMbase, and China Biology Medicine databases were searched for randomized-controlled trials with TMR as the intervention for patients with coronary heart disease. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. Meta-analysis was conducted using Stata 15.0 software. RESULTS: In total, 1678 patients in 6 trials were included. Compared with the control group, the MA was 2.85 times greater among the intervention group (RR [relative risk] 2.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07–7.58). TMR reduced systolic blood pressure (BP) (weighted mean difference) = −6.51; 95% CI −9.79 to -3.23), cholesterol (standard mean difference = −0.26; 95% CI −0.4 to -0.12) and increased the number of patients with BP <140/90 mm Hg (RR 1.39; 95% CI 1.26–1.54). CONCLUSION: TMR significantly promoted MA and reduced systolic BP, cholesterol level, and body mass index, but had no effect on mortality, diastolic BP, or lipoproteins. However, substantial heterogeneity existed in our analyses.