Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
| NCT number |
NCT03209765 |
| Other study ID # |
WhatsApp Compliance Study |
| Secondary ID |
|
| Status |
Completed |
| Phase |
N/A
|
| First received |
|
| Last updated |
|
| Start date |
June 16, 2017 |
| Est. completion date |
December 31, 2019 |
Study information
| Verified date |
June 2021 |
| Source |
Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| Contact |
n/a |
| Is FDA regulated |
No |
| Health authority |
|
| Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
It is estimated that there are about 1.4 million patients with colorectal cancer (CRC)
worldwide, with a rising trend in CRC incidence in many Asian Pacific countries. In Hong
Kong, colorectal cancer ranks first in cancer incidence and second in cancer mortality based
on data from 2014.
Recent guidelines from USA, Europe and Asia Pacific region recommend CRC screening for
average-risk asymptomatic individuals starting at age 50. Fecal immunochemical tests (FIT),
is one of the recommendation as first-line modality for CRC screening. Since yearly testing
is recommended to maintain programmatic effectiveness longitudinal adherence is a critical
component of FOBT-based screening programs. Our previous study conducted in Hong Kong showed
that the rate of compliance with CRC screening was declining since the first year of
enrolment8.
In recent years, social media (SM) has become an increasingly popular source of health
information. By providing an easily accessible and interactive channel of communication
between reviewers and information providers, it has potential values for affecting public
health. However, the effects of SM on the compliance of CRC screening by FIT has not yet been
studied.
WhatsApp Messenger, is the most popular social media messaging app worldwide. This randomized
controlled study will investigate the effect of WhatsApp vs no reminder on the compliance of
CRC screening by FIT.
Description:
It is estimated that there are about 1.4 million patients with colorectal cancer (CRC)
worldwide, with a rising trend in CRC incidence in many Asian Pacific countries. In Hong
Kong, colorectal cancer ranks first in cancer incidence and second in cancer mortality based
on data from 2014.
Recent guidelines from USA, Europe and Asia Pacific region recommend CRC screening for
average-risk asymptomatic individuals starting at age 50. Fecal immunochemical tests (FIT),
is one of the recommendation as first-line modality for CRC screening. Since yearly testing
is recommended to maintain programmatic effectiveness longitudinal adherence is a critical
component of FOBT-based screening programs. Our previous study conducted in Hong Kong showed
that the rate of compliance with CRC screening was declining since the first year of
enrolment8.
In recent years, social media (SM) has become an increasingly popular source of health
information. By providing an easily accessible and interactive channel of communication
between reviewers and information providers, it has potential values for affecting public
health. However, the effects of SM on the compliance of CRC screening by FIT has not yet been
studied.
WhatsApp Messenger, is the most popular social media messaging app worldwide. This randomized
controlled study will investigate the effect of WhatsApp vs no reminder on the compliance of
CRC screening by FIT.
All subjects will be recruited from the existing cohort of screening participants who joined
the bowel cancer screening programme in the CUHK JC Bowel Cancer Education Centre in 2016
with FOBT negative in the first round of screening, and who are expected to follow-up and
return to the centre in 2017 for their second round of FOBT screening.
Each study subjects will be offered either an interactive WhatsApp reminder to return to the
centre for taking faecal tubes for screening; or usual care, where no additional intervention
will be offered. A simple random sampling process will be administered using
computer-generated numbers so that each participant will have a 50% probability for
assignment into each group. All potential participants identified who are eligible for the
study will be randomized by a computer randomizer, which will give a number indicating the
group assigned.
The outcome of interest included the proportion of subjects who return to the centre and
retrieve faecal tubes for screening 30 days within the scheduled time for the second year of
the screening test.
To investigate the long-term effect of WhatsApp reminder on FIT compliance, all subjects in
this study (except those died or had positive FIT result) will be called in the first quarter
of 2019 and offered FIT again in a cross-over design in 2019, i.e. 1) patients initially
randomized to WhatsApp reminder group in 2017 will receive no reminder in 2019; and 2) those
randomized to no reminder group in 2017 will receive WhatsApp reminder in 2019.. The FIT
pickup and return rate and reason of default will be recorded again.
