It’s been a while since our last post, but we’re happy to see a growing audience for Cronote!

A couple days ago, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a research study suggesting that semi-personalized text messages may help reduce heart disease.

The study was based in Australia through the Tobacco, Exercise and Diet Messages (TEXT ME) program. There were 710 participating patients, all of whom had a record of coronary heart disease between a given time frame (Sept 2011 to Nov 2013). The patients were split into two groups — a control group, which received usual care, and an intervention group, which received 4 text messages per week for 6 months (in addition to usual care). The text messages provided advice, motivational reminders, and support to change lifestyle behaviors. Similar to Cronote’s reminder system, the text messages were not interactive; that is, the patients could not respond.

At 6 months, patients in the intervention group had significantly lower levels of LDL-C (bad cholesterol) than those in the control group. Patients in the intervention group also had lower systolic blood pressure, increased physician activity, and reduced smoking.

This study suggests that text messages may have an added benefit to lifestyle changes.

At Cronote, we are motivated by scientific publications like these and encourage you to share with us how you are using Cronote. We hope that this article inspires you to think of ways you can use text message reminders to improve wellness and health for yourself, your family, and your friends.

Read the full JAMA article here.