Plain language summary from the article: The review included eight randomised controlled trials published up to August 2012, involving 6615 participants. Four of these trials were newly included in this update. Low to moderate quality evidence included in this review shows that mobile phone text messaging reminders increase attendance at healthcare appointments compared to no reminders and postal reminders, and have the same impact on attendance as phone call reminders. Two studies reported that the costs per attendance of mobile phone text message reminders are less than phone call reminders.
One study reported generally that there were no adverse effects during the study period; none of the studies reported in detail on specific adverse events such as loss of privacy, data misinterpretation, or message delivery failure. The studies included in the review did not report on health outcomes or people’s perceptions of safety related to receiving reminders by text message.
| Level of Evidence | Level I |
| Study Region | Multiple |
| Organization | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Issue or Problem | Missed appointments |
| Tech Medium | SMS |
| Technology Device | Mobile phone |
| mFHAST Implication | Mobile phone messaging applications, such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS), could provide an important, inexpensive delivery medium for reminders for healthcare appointments. |