A study revealed that breast cancer patients might attend seminar if they are reminded through text. Those, who receive text, have 20% chance to attend.

Robert Kerrison, lead author of the study, said, “We all forget things now and then, and doctor’s appointments are no exception — in fact, forgetting is one of the most commonly cited reasons why women miss breast cancer screening appointments”.

He further said that via their research they have found that cheap, simple text-message-reminder could raise the number of women attending their cancer screening.

Researchers for the study trialed text message reminders for women aged 47-53 years old who were invited for their first appointment for breast cancer screening.

The team then compared nearly 450 women who were sent a text with 435 women who did not receive a text.

They found that 72% of women who were sent text messages reminder were present for their screening appointment, as compared to the 60% of women who were not sent text reminder.

Researchers also found that text message reminders had the biggest impact on women from the most deprived areas who were 28% more likely to attend their first screening appointment if they were sent a text.

Also, they found that women were almost three times more likely to cancel their appointments in advance if they were not sent a text reminder message.

Ian Lush, chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare Charity, stated that the potential positive impact the study could have on the UK population’s health is quite large.

Research outcome like these clearly highlights that charity for such pioneering work must keep going, he added.

The study was published in the British Journal of Cancer.