A HEART Foundation pilot program that recalls at-risk Australians via a text message from their GP clinic is being seen as a potential lifesaver.
The Heart Health Check (HHC) Recall pilot study rolled out in more than 200 GP clinics across the country.
About 42,000 at-risk Australian patients received an invitation from their GP via SMS to come in for a HHC, which led to a 14-fold increase in checks.
Results were recently published in the Australian Journal of General Practice, HERE.
The pilot is the largest targeted cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening trial of its kind in Australian general practice, potentially paving the way for a structured CVD screening program in the future.
Heart Foundation Healthcare Programs Manager Natalie Raffoul said, "this is the most robust Australian evidence we have that shows a targeted CVD screening program could be both effective and feasible in general practice".
"Just like Australia has dedicated screening programs for many cancers, we need to consider one for Australia's leading cause of death, heart disease."
The pilot program sent direct SMS messages from GP clinics to existing patients via the GoShare Plus software embedded into established clinical practice software with a randomised control trial design.
Patients who were invited to come in for a HHC via a personalised SMS met criteria that included being aged 45 to 74 years; not already living with CVD; not having had a health assessment or HHC in the previous 12 months; having total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol recorded in the previous 12 months; and being an active patient (at least three visits to the GP in the previous two years).
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