Tailored written invitations for second round breast cancer screening: a randomised controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
Firstly, to determine if attendance for second round mammography screening in those sent a tailored letter (that is, making reference to their screening history) is increased compared with those sent a standard letter; secondly, to investigate the acceptability of tailored letters.


METHODS
North West Glasgow Breast Screening Centre.


METHODS
A randomised controlled trial.


RESULTS
Overall attendance was unrelated to whether the women were sent a tailored or standard letter; 60% of those sent the standard letter attended (922/1531) compared with 62% of those sent the tailored letter (956/1552) (chi 2 = 0.61, P = 0.4) (difference 2%; 95% confidence interval -2% to 5%). There were no significant differences in percentage attendance within each of the study subgroups: women who attended previously and received an all clear result, women who attended previously and received a false positive result, women who were invited previously and failed to attend, and women who were previously too young to be invited for screening. However, there was a statistically significant difference in percentage attendance between these four groups, independent of letter type (chi 2 = 510, P < 0.00001). Although women found the letters acceptable and understandable, they did not seem to pay close attention to the content.


CONCLUSIONS
Tailoring invitation letters does not have a significant effect on uptake rates for breast screening and does not justify the additional workload required.
Meldrum
P
P
Department of Public Health, Greater Glasgow Health Board, Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital, Rottenrow, United Kingdom.
Turnbull
D
D
Dobson
H M
HM
Colquhoun
C
C
Gilmour
W H
WH
McIlwaine
G M
GM
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D012606:Scotland