title: Mobile phone use and willingness to pay for SMS for diabetes in Bangladesh.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mobile phone SMS is increasingly used as a means of communication between patients and their healthcare providers in many countries of the world. We investigated mobile phone use and factors associated with willingness-to-pay (WTP) for diabetes SMS among patients with type 2 diabetes in Bangladesh.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of a randomized controlled study, in 515 patients with type 2 diabetes, socioeconomic status, mobile phone use, WTP for diabetes SMS, anthropometry and HbA1c were measured. Multivariate regression was used to identify factors associated with WTP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median (interquartile range [IQR]) of WTP for diabetes SMS was 20 (45) Bangladesh Taka (BDT) (1 BDT = 0.013 US$). WTP was significantly higher for males [OR 2.4, 95% CI (1.0-5.7)], patients with household income >50 000 BDT [4.6 (1.1-20.4)] and those with primary education [5.6 (1.2-26.6)] and secondary and higher education [5.2 (1.4-19.6)].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high proportion of mobile phone use and WTP for diabetes SMS are encouraging as possible strategy to use such technologies and deserve further evaluation.
authors: Center for Control of Chronic Diseases (CCCD), International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (Icddr,b), 68 Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh Center for International Health (CIH), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Leopoldstraße 7, München 80802, Germany.
authors: Sheikh Mohammed
authors: SM
authors: Shariful Islam
authors: Diabetes Center, Diabetes Research Group, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München 80336, Germany.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Lechner
authors: Diabetes Center, Diabetes Research Group, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München 80336, Germany.
authors: Uta
authors: U
authors: Ferrari
authors: Diabetes Center, Diabetes Research Group, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München 80336, Germany.
authors: Jochen
authors: J
authors: Seissler
authors: Economic Evaluations, Helmholtz Zentrum München (GmbH), German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany.
authors: Rolf
authors: R
authors: Holle
authors: Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK.
authors: Louis W
authors: LW
authors: Niessen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001459:Bangladesh; D040421:Cell Phone; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D060145:Text Messaging / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: chronic disease; diabetes; economics; mobile phone; short message services (SMS); willingness to pay