title: Short message service reminder intervention doubles sexually transmitted infection/HIV re-testing rates among men who have sex with men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of a short message service (SMS) reminder system on HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) re-testing rates among men who have sex with men (MSM).
  
  
  METHODS
  The SMS reminder programme started in late 2008 at a large Australian sexual health clinic. SMS reminders were recommended 3-6 monthly for MSM considered high-risk based on self-reported sexual behaviour. The evaluation compared HIV negative MSM who had a HIV/STI test between 1 January and 31 August 2010 and received a SMS reminder (SMS group) with those tested in the same time period (comparison group) and pre-SMS period (pre-SMS group, 1 January 2008 and 31 August 2008) who did not receive the SMS. HIV/STI re-testing rates were measured within 9 months for each group. Baseline characteristics were compared between study groups and multivariate logistic regression used to assess the association between SMS and re-testing and control for any imbalances in the study groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 714 HIV negative MSM in the SMS group, 1084 in the comparison group and 1753 in the pre-SMS group. In the SMS group, 64% were re-tested within 9 months compared to 30% in the comparison group (p<0.001) and 31% in the pre-SMS group (p<0.001). After adjusting for baseline differences, re-testing was 4.4 times more likely (95% CI 3.5 to 5.5) in the SMS group than the comparison group and 3.1 times more likely (95% CI 2.5 to 3.8) than the pre-SMS group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SMS reminders increased HIV/STI re-testing among HIV negative MSM. SMS offers a cheap, efficient system to increase HIV/STI re-testing in a busy clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: NSW STI Programs Unit, Sydney Sexual Health Centre, Sydney Hospital, PO Box 1614, Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia. christopher.bourne@sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.au
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bourne
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guy
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wand
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McNulty
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001004:Anus Diseases / Q000150:complications; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D052801:Male Urogenital Diseases / Q000150:complications; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017010:Reminder Systems; D055815:Young Adult