Telephone reminders increase re-screening in a county breast screening program.
BACKGROUND
Mammography can reduce breast cancer mortality through routine screening. We tested an intervention to increase re-screening in a county program.


METHODS
The program requires enrollment before screening. We randomized women who had previously been screened by the program to a telephone call reminder for re-enrollment or usual care (postcard reminder). We followed re-enrollment and re-screening rates for both groups.


RESULTS
Compared with the control group (n=610), women in the intervention group (n=599) had higher rates of initial re-enrollment at one month (10% vs. 24%, p<.001) and re-screening at two months (11% vs. 19%, p<.001). These effects persisted over time (five-month re-enrollment: 24% vs. 35%, p<.001; six-month re-screening: 23% vs. 31%, p=.004). The intervention did not alter the odds of a woman's being re-screened once re-enrolled.


CONCLUSIONS
The increase in our re-screening rate after this simple intervention was as great or greater than the rates reported in other studies. A telephone reminder for women previously enrolled in a county breast screening program can increase re-enrollment and subsequent re-screening rates.
Goel
Anupam
A
Medical Group Quality, Safety and Decision Support, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92103, USA. angoel@ucsd.edu
George
Julie
J
Burack
Robert C
RC
D000328:Adult; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017010:Reminder Systems; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013689:Telephone