Daily text messaging ups ART adherence in youth
(HealthDay)—A two-way, personalized daily text messaging intervention can improve antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among HIV-positive adolescents and young adults, according to a study published in AIDS and Behavior.
Robert Garofalo, M.D., M.P.H., from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial of a two-way, personalized daily text messaging intervention to improve ART adherence among 105 poorly adherent HIV-positive adolescents and young adults (age 16 to 29 years). ART adherence was assessed via self-report visual analogue scale at three and six months for mean adherence level and proportion who were ≥90 percent adherent.
The researchers found that over the six-month intervention period, the average effect estimate was significant for ≥90 percent adherence (odds ratio, 2.12) and was maintained six months after intervention (at 12 months). Very high satisfaction scores were seen for the intervention.
"These results suggest both feasibility and initial efficacy of this approach," the authors write. "Given study limitations, additional testing of this intervention as part of a larger clinical trial with objective and/or clinical outcome measures of adherence is warranted."
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