Telephone reminders increase re-screening in a county breast screening program.

INTRODUCTION:

Mammography can reduce breast cancer mortality through routine screening. We tested an intervention to increase re-screening in a county program.

METHODS:

The program requires enrollment before screening. We randomized women who had previously been screened by the program to a telephone call reminder for re-enrollment or usual care (postcard reminder). We followed re-enrollment and re-screening rates for both groups.

RESULTS:

Compared with the control group (n=610), women in the intervention group (n=599) had higher rates of initial re-enrollment at one month (10% vs. 24%, p<.001) and re-screening at two months (11% vs. 19%, p<.001). These effects persisted over time (five-month re-enrollment: 24% vs. 35%, p<.001; six-month re-screening: 23% vs. 31%, p=.004). The intervention did not alter the odds of a woman's being re-screened once re-enrolled.

CONCLUSION:

The increase in our re-screening rate after this simple intervention was as great or greater than the rates reported in other studies. A telephone reminder for women previously enrolled in a county breast screening program can increase re-enrollment and subsequent re-screening rates.