TEXT ME: Findings and Future Directions

The Tobacco, Exercise and Diet Messages (TEXT ME) trial was a parallel-group, single-blind, randomized clinical trial that recruited 710 patients with proven coronary heart disease (prior myocardial infarction or proven angiographically) between September 2011 and November 2013 from a large tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia. The aim of the TEXT ME trial was to examine the effect of a lifestyle-focused semipersonalized support program delivered by mobile phone text message on cardiovascular risk factors. At six months, levels of LDL-C were significantly lower in intervention participants, with concurrent reductions in systolic blood pressure and BMI, significant increases in physical activity, and a significant reduction in smoking. The majority reported the text messages to be useful (91%), easy to understand (97%), and appropriate in frequency (86%).

Assoc Prof Clara Chow is Director of the Cardiovascular division of The George Institute, Program Director Community Based Cardiac Services, Westmead Hospital and Associate Professor with the Faculty of Medicine University of Sydney. She has a PhD in Medicine from the University of Sydney and completed a postdoc in Cardiovascular epidemiology and clinical trials at McMaster University, Canada. Clara holds a Career Development Fellowship of the NHMRC co-funded by the National Heart Foundation. Her research focus is clinical and community approaches to cardiovascular disease prevention.