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TB pillbox reminders beat SMS for doses
In a China cluster RCT, medication-monitor reminders cut poor TB adherence 40–50%, while text messages mainly reduced loss to follow-up.
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What did medication monitors do to poor adherence?
Reduced it by 40–50% versus standard care.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
What did text messaging achieve?
No adherence gain, but 58% less loss to follow-up.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
How many patients entered analysis?
4,173 patients.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
How many were screened across clusters?
6,203 pulmonary TB patients in 36 clusters.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
What was the demographic profile?
71% male; median age 43; 56% farmers.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
Why does TB adherence matter in China context?
China ranked second globally in TB cases in 2013 (~11% of cases).
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
What arms were compared?
Control, text messaging, medication monitor, and combined.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
Was urban/rural effect modification seen?
Monitor benefit appeared mainly in the rural stratum.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
Were device problems common?
Yes—about half of monitor/combined patients had recorded monitor problems.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
How were missed doses defined?
Larger of pill-count misses vs SMS non-reply or failure to open the monitor.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified
Was ethics approval obtained?
Yes—China CDC and LSHTM ethics committees.
Source: Effectiveness of Electronic Reminders to Improve Medication Adherence in Tuberculosis Patients: A Cluster-Randomised Trial · DOI · quote verified