InterTxt2Heart pilot: A trial to evaluate efficacy of text message to improve adherence to cardiovascular medications in secondary prevention.

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In less developed countries cardiovascular diseases (heart diseases and stroke) have a vast deleterious impact at individual and society level. Patients with cardiovascular diseases can benefit from affordable and effective medications, but only a minority of patients takes the medications, and strategies tested in the past to improve taking of these medications have failed. Mobile phones are becoming an essential instrument in daily life of people living in less developed countries and therefore have become an ideal "instrument" to deliver interventions to change behaviours, such as taking medications. Previous successes of studies using mobile text messages to improve adherence to HIV-medications provides a strong precedent that this success could be translated to cardiovascular diseases. However, to achieve this, it requires a carefully work on understanding the reasons why people stop taking medications that also considers the local-context. To date, there are no studies in cardiovascular disease that full fill these criteria. Our long-term aim is to conduct the largest study to evaluate if mobile text messages can be helpful to increase adherence to life-saving cardiovascular medications. As a first step (current proposal), we will be studying reasons for poor adherence to cardiovascular medications using "state of art" psychological strategies co-developed by some of the co-applicants. Then, we will convert this knowledge, on reasons for poor adherence, into short-text messages tailor to the specific needs of patients in order to increase adherence of cardiovascular medications. In a second step (not included in this proposal) we will test under controlled experimental conditions (known as randomized trial) if mobile text messages are useful to increase adherence to cardiovascular medications that decrease blood pressure and the bad-cholesterol as well as making the blood thinner to avoid occlusion of arteries in the heart, brain and extremities. The study will take place in Colombia, Ghana, and India, representing major geographical areas with different stage of economic development and health care systems. We expect that our wide-coverage of less-developed countries will facilitate a rapid adoption of our intervention (if successful) to other less-developed countries. Our study will inform the World Health Organization initiative on uses of mobile text phone interventions to improve management of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases