Text messages about healthy choices to help heart attack survivors

By Gwyn Wright via SWNS

Sending heart attack survivors simple texts about healthy lifestyle choices can help them fend off another potentially fatal episode, according to a new study.

The messages helped them lose weight and reminded them to eat more fruit and veg.

But, surprisingly, a message reminding them to take their medication did not help them remember to take their pills, the researchers in Australia found.

Up to a quarter of people who have suffered from a heart attack will have another one later in life.

To reduce the risk, people who have recovered from a heart attack are told to eat healthily, exercise, manage risk factors such as cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes and take their medication.

The study measured the impact of a personalized text on medication adherence and lifestyle choices after someone was discharged from hospital following a heart attack.

Researchers analyzed more than 1,400 Australian adults who were hospitalized for a heart attack between 2013 and 2017.

Almost four in five (79 percent) of them were men and they had an average age of 58.

After they were discharged from hospital, all of the study participants were given follow-up support including medication, lifestyle counseling and cardiac rehabilitation, as determined by their physician.

Half the participants (716) also received educational, motivational and supportive texts on their mobile phones.

The texts talked about blood pressure, and cholesterol targets and addressed health topics including physical activity, diet, giving up smoking and mental health after a heart attack.

Other texts explained how each of their medicines worked, explained common side effects and offered tips on the importance of taking medications regularly.

Participants who got the texts received four text messages each week for the first six months and then three messages per week over the next six months.

A health counsellor reviewed and responded to participants’ messages or questions.

All the participants were surveyed at six months and 12 months about how often they took their medication.

Participants were asked how many of the past 30 days they missed their medication.

They were considered to be taking their medication if at both the six and 12-month follow-up they had taken the medication as prescribed for at least 24 of the past 30 days (80 percent adherence).

Participants also reported their exercise habits, cholesterol levels, blood pressure readings, body mass index, smoking status and nutritional habits.

After a year, there was no significant difference between people who got the texts and those who did not in terms of medication adherence.

Small lifestyle improvements were found in people who got the texts.

They were more likely to have a healthy weight and eat at least five servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit each day.

Most (86 percent) of the people who got the texts thought they were useful.

Almost two-thirds of them (63 percent) thought the text messages reminded them to take their medicine and motivated them to develop a healthier lifestyle.

Almost three in five (58 percent) thought the messages had forced them to eat more healthily and just under half (48 percent) said the texts made them exercise more regularly.

The researchers say that while the texts did not help people take their medicine, they were still helpful because they provided people with education and support to prevent them having another heart attack.

Study lead author Dr. Clara Chow said: “Hospital admissions for people who have experienced a heart attack are generally short, and there may not be sufficient time to provide information and education to support their recovery and how to prevent another heart attack."

“Post-hospitalisation prevention programs are helpful, yet even with access to these programs, about two-thirds of people do not attend due to various barriers including returning to work, inflexible program hours, distance or lack of perceived need.

“Even though this study found no significant impact on medication adherence, it demonstrates that a simple, low-cost and customized text message-based program can deliver systematic, post-discharge education and support to people after a heart attack with minimal staff support."

Dr. Chow added: “The lack of impact on medication adherence suggests external factors that we did not examine, such as cost, may be a factor, and barriers need to be understood and addressed in education programs.”

The findings were published in the journal Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association.