Text messaging is a great way to alert someone to a changed meeting, traffic jam, or the score of a baseball game. Why not use texts for health alerts as well?
Many of the more than 1 million cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year in the United States are caused by sun damage, yet only about 20 percent of adults use sunscreen regularly. Researchers asked 70 Boston-area adults to wear sunscreen daily for six weeks during the fall of 2007. Half of the participants received a text message each morning on their cellphones with the weather forecast and a reminder to apply sunscreen. The others received no reminders. At the end of the study, 56 percent of the text-message group had used sunscreen daily, compared with 30 percent in the control group. (Electronic monitors recorded every time the cap was removed from sunscreen bottles.)
“I see people with skin cancers all the time and they say, ‘If only I’d known what I was supposed to do,’ ’’ said lead researcher Dr. April Armstrong, a University of California, Davis, dermatologist who conducted the study while training at Harvard Medical School. Automated messaging systems could be programmed to send reminders to wear sunscreen or take medicine, Armstrong said.
BOTTOM LINE: Text messaging is an effective tool for reminding patients to use sunscreen.
CAUTIONS: Armstrong’s study was conducted during the fall. The results might be different in the summer, noted Dr. Caroline Kim of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a spokesperson for the Skin Cancer Foundation.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Archives of Dermatology, Nov. 2009
Some good news on 'bad' cholesterol
The number of American adults with dangerously high levels of low-density lipoprotein, the “bad’’ cholesterol, dropped by about one-third between 1999 and 2006, according to a study by government researchers. But the news isn’t all good. Many people with elevated LDL - which can build up in arteries, raising the risk of heart attacks - didn’t know it.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an ongoing study that asks thousands of people each year about their health, diet, and family history of disease. To track LDL levels, a team led by CDC epidemiologist Dr. Elena Kuklina, examined data on 7,044 adults who had fasted before their cholesterol was tested.
Those with high LDL decreased from 31.5 percent in 1999 to 21.2 percent in 2006, a drop Kuklina attributed partly to cholesterol-lowering drugs and healthier lifestyles. However, more than one-third of those with high LDL had never been screened before, and one-fourth of screened people had not been told their levels were high. This could be because many doctors look at overall cholesterol numbers, Kuklina says. LDL levels can be too high even if the overall cholesterol count isn’t cause for alarm. In addition, many patients don’t fast before cholesterol tests, which can cause inaccurate results.
BOTTOM LINE: Levels of “bad’’ cholesterol are on the decline, but 1 out of every 5 adults still have high LDL levels and many of those don’t know they have a problem.
CAUTIONS: Participants in NHANES change each year. A better understanding of cholesterol changes may come from following the same group over time, said Ohio State University nutrition professor Martha Belury.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Journal of the American Medical Association, Nov. 18
KELLI WHITLOCK BURTON 
