RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED-STUDY OF CUSTOMIZED PREVENTIVE MEDICINE REMINDER LETTERS IN A COMMUNITY PRACTICE

OBJECTIVE To rest the effectiveness of customized, family-oriented rem inder letters in activating patients to seek appropriate preventive se rvices. DESIGN Randomized clinical trial. One group received computer- generated, customized letters explaining recommended preventive proced ures for each family member. A second group received a form letter lis ting recommendations for all preventive procedures for all age and sex groups. A third group (control group) received no letters. SETTING A private medical centre, without university affiliation, in rural Quebe c. PARTICIPANTS From 8770 patients who mel study criteria, 719 familie s were randomly selected. Data were available for 1971 of 1998 patient s in these families. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The Family Received Index i s the proportion of all procedures for which a family was overdue that they received. The Family End-of-study Up-to-date Index is the propor tion of procedures for which the family was eligible and for which the y were up-to-date at the end of the study. RESULTS The Family Received Index for families mailed customized letters was more than double the index for patients not mailed letters (Kruskal-Wallis P = .0139). Com parison of the Family End-of-study Up-re-dale indices also demonstrate d that families of patients sent customized letters were more likely t o be up-to-date than families not sent letters (Kruskal-Wallis P = .00 54). No statistically significant difference appeared between the numb er of preventive measures received by the control group and the form-l etter group. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates a clinically small bu t statistically significant value to customizing reminder letters.