A randomised trial of the effect of postal reminders on attendance for breast screening

Prue C Allgood; Anthony J Maxwell; Sue Hudson; Judith Offman; Gillian Hutchison; Cathryn Beattie; Raquel Tuano-Donnelly; Anthony Threlfall; Tina Summersgill; Lesley Bellis; Collette Robinson; Samantha Heaton; Julietta Patnick; Stephen W Duffy

doi:10.1038/bjc.2015.451

A randomised trial of the effect of postal reminders on attendance for breast screening

Prue C Allgood, Anthony J Maxwell, Sue Hudson, Judith Offman, Gillian Hutchison, Cathryn Beattie, Raquel Tuano-Donnelly, Anthony Threlfall, Tina Summersgill, Lesley Bellis, Collette Robinson, Samantha Heaton, Julietta Patnick, Stephen W Duffy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Some women make an informed choice not to attend breast screening, whereas others may have forgotten about the appointment. We report on a randomised trial that investigates whether a reminder letter affects attendance.

METHODS: Women scheduled for a breast screening appointment were randomised to either receive a reminder letter a few days before their breast screening appointment in addition to the standard invitation letter (intervention) or not (control). The primary outcome was attendance within 30 days of the first offered appointment. Secondary outcomes were attendance within 90 and 180 days.

RESULTS: In all, 11,383 (49.9%) women were randomised to the intervention and 11,445 (50.1%) to the control. In the intervention arm, 7759 (68.2%) attended within 30 days of the first offered appointment compared with 7349 (64.2%) in the control arm. This difference was significant (P<0.001). The odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval) for the primary end point was 1.19 (1.13-1.26). This was not significantly affected by age, socioeconomic status or type of screen (prevalent or incident). Secondary endpoint analyses supported these results. Results did differ, however, between the different centres studied.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found that postal reminders increase breast screening uptake, and could be practicable to implement in the NHS Breast Screening Programme.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	171-176
Number of pages	6
Journal	BJC: British Journal of Cancer
Volume	114
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.2015.451
Publication status	Published - 19 Jan 2016

Keywords

Age Factors
Aged
Appointments and Schedules
Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis
Early Detection of Cancer/methods
Female
Humans
Middle Aged
Odds Ratio
Reminder Systems
State Medicine
United Kingdom

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1038/bjc.2015.451Licence: CC BY

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Allgood, P. C., Maxwell, A. J., Hudson, S., Offman, J., Hutchison, G., Beattie, C., Tuano-Donnelly, R., Threlfall, A., Summersgill, T., Bellis, L., Robinson, C., Heaton, S., Patnick, J., & Duffy, S. W. (2016). A randomised trial of the effect of postal reminders on attendance for breast screening. BJC: British Journal of Cancer, 114(2), 171-176. https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.2015.451

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abstract = "BACKGROUND: Some women make an informed choice not to attend breast screening, whereas others may have forgotten about the appointment. We report on a randomised trial that investigates whether a reminder letter affects attendance.METHODS: Women scheduled for a breast screening appointment were randomised to either receive a reminder letter a few days before their breast screening appointment in addition to the standard invitation letter (intervention) or not (control). The primary outcome was attendance within 30 days of the first offered appointment. Secondary outcomes were attendance within 90 and 180 days.RESULTS: In all, 11,383 (49.9%) women were randomised to the intervention and 11,445 (50.1%) to the control. In the intervention arm, 7759 (68.2%) attended within 30 days of the first offered appointment compared with 7349 (64.2%) in the control arm. This difference was significant (P<0.001). The odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval) for the primary end point was 1.19 (1.13-1.26). This was not significantly affected by age, socioeconomic status or type of screen (prevalent or incident). Secondary endpoint analyses supported these results. Results did differ, however, between the different centres studied.CONCLUSIONS: This study found that postal reminders increase breast screening uptake, and could be practicable to implement in the NHS Breast Screening Programme.",

keywords = "Age Factors, Aged, Appointments and Schedules, Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis, Early Detection of Cancer/methods, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Odds Ratio, Reminder Systems, State Medicine, United Kingdom",

author = "Allgood, {Prue C} and Maxwell, {Anthony J} and Sue Hudson and Judith Offman and Gillian Hutchison and Cathryn Beattie and Raquel Tuano-Donnelly and Anthony Threlfall and Tina Summersgill and Lesley Bellis and Collette Robinson and Samantha Heaton and Julietta Patnick and Duffy, {Stephen W}",

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Allgood, PC, Maxwell, AJ, Hudson, S, Offman, J, Hutchison, G, Beattie, C, Tuano-Donnelly, R, Threlfall, A, Summersgill, T, Bellis, L, Robinson, C, Heaton, S, Patnick, J & Duffy, SW 2016, 'A randomised trial of the effect of postal reminders on attendance for breast screening', BJC: British Journal of Cancer, vol. 114, no. 2, pp. 171-176. https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.2015.451

TY - JOUR

T1 - A randomised trial of the effect of postal reminders on attendance for breast screening

AU - Allgood, Prue C

AU - Maxwell, Anthony J

AU - Hudson, Sue

AU - Offman, Judith

AU - Hutchison, Gillian

AU - Beattie, Cathryn

AU - Tuano-Donnelly, Raquel

AU - Threlfall, Anthony

AU - Summersgill, Tina

AU - Bellis, Lesley

AU - Robinson, Collette

AU - Heaton, Samantha

AU - Patnick, Julietta

AU - Duffy, Stephen W

PY - 2016/1/19

Y1 - 2016/1/19

N2 - BACKGROUND: Some women make an informed choice not to attend breast screening, whereas others may have forgotten about the appointment. We report on a randomised trial that investigates whether a reminder letter affects attendance.METHODS: Women scheduled for a breast screening appointment were randomised to either receive a reminder letter a few days before their breast screening appointment in addition to the standard invitation letter (intervention) or not (control). The primary outcome was attendance within 30 days of the first offered appointment. Secondary outcomes were attendance within 90 and 180 days.RESULTS: In all, 11,383 (49.9%) women were randomised to the intervention and 11,445 (50.1%) to the control. In the intervention arm, 7759 (68.2%) attended within 30 days of the first offered appointment compared with 7349 (64.2%) in the control arm. This difference was significant (P<0.001). The odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval) for the primary end point was 1.19 (1.13-1.26). This was not significantly affected by age, socioeconomic status or type of screen (prevalent or incident). Secondary endpoint analyses supported these results. Results did differ, however, between the different centres studied.CONCLUSIONS: This study found that postal reminders increase breast screening uptake, and could be practicable to implement in the NHS Breast Screening Programme.

AB - BACKGROUND: Some women make an informed choice not to attend breast screening, whereas others may have forgotten about the appointment. We report on a randomised trial that investigates whether a reminder letter affects attendance.METHODS: Women scheduled for a breast screening appointment were randomised to either receive a reminder letter a few days before their breast screening appointment in addition to the standard invitation letter (intervention) or not (control). The primary outcome was attendance within 30 days of the first offered appointment. Secondary outcomes were attendance within 90 and 180 days.RESULTS: In all, 11,383 (49.9%) women were randomised to the intervention and 11,445 (50.1%) to the control. In the intervention arm, 7759 (68.2%) attended within 30 days of the first offered appointment compared with 7349 (64.2%) in the control arm. This difference was significant (P<0.001). The odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval) for the primary end point was 1.19 (1.13-1.26). This was not significantly affected by age, socioeconomic status or type of screen (prevalent or incident). Secondary endpoint analyses supported these results. Results did differ, however, between the different centres studied.CONCLUSIONS: This study found that postal reminders increase breast screening uptake, and could be practicable to implement in the NHS Breast Screening Programme.

KW - Age Factors

KW - Aged

KW - Appointments and Schedules

KW - Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis

KW - Early Detection of Cancer/methods

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Odds Ratio

KW - Reminder Systems

KW - State Medicine

KW - United Kingdom

U2 - 10.1038/bjc.2015.451

DO - 10.1038/bjc.2015.451

M3 - Article

C2 - 26784123

SN - 0007-0920

VL - 114

SP - 171

EP - 176

JO - BJC: British Journal of Cancer

JF - BJC: British Journal of Cancer

IS - 2

ER -

A randomised trial of the effect of postal reminders on attendance for breast screening

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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