Text-message reminders in colorectal cancer screening: a non-clinical randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Background In England, adults aged 60–74 years are eligible for colorectal cancer screening using a guaiac faecal occult blood test (gFOBt) kit. However, uptake of the gFOBt kit in London has been consistently below the national target. We investigated the eff ectiveness of a text-message reminder to improve uptake of the test kit in London. Methods General practices in six Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in London were invited to take part in this randomised controlled trial. Between Jan 18 and March 14, 2016, screening-eligible adults were randomised (1:1, using a pseudorandom number generator) to the control group (gFOBT screening pathway in the English Bowel Cancer Screening Programme [usual care]) or intervention group (usual care plus a text-message reminder). Individuals in the intervention group who had not returned their screening kit were sent a reminder text-message on the eighth week of an 18 week gFOBt screening episode. The primary outcome was the total proportion of individuals returning the kit by 18 weeks, which was determined with intention-to-treat analysis. Ethics approval was given by the East Midlands National Research Ethics Service (15/EM/0159) and the Confi dentiality Advisory Group (15/CAG/0156). This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN70904476.