Rationale & Objective: Mobile health technologies such as text messaging have been utilized to support self-management in chronic disease.This study sought to understand utility and responsiveness to text messaging for data collection in an international longitudinal observational study.Study Design: A longitudinal text messaging program was administered in the Cure Glomerulonephropathy Network (CureGN), an observational cohort study of primary glomerulonephropathies.Consented participants were sent monthly texts querying symptoms, medication adherence, relapses or remissions.Participants responded via text.Setting & Participants: Adults enrolled in CureGN from October 23, 2020 to April 30, 2024 participated remotely via text messaging Predictors: Age, histologic diagnosis, months since diagnosis by kidney biopsy, education level, English as the primary language.Outcome: Program reach (proportion who did not opt-out), response rate, and ongoing engagement were assessed.Analytical Approach: Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to assess associations between responsiveness to text and participant characteristics.Results: 71% (n = 948) did not opt-out, and of those, 54% responded to at least one text (512/948).Responders were more likely to be younger (OR 0.97 per additional year, 95% CI 0.97-0.98)and more educated (high school education OR 0.63 95% CI 0.41-0.98compared to some college) than nonresponders.Those who did not speak English primarily were less likely to respond (OR 0.64, 95%CI 0.42-0.98)than primary English-speakers.In an unadjusted subgroup analysis of those with census tract data, responders resided in communities with lower community resources than non-responders (p<0.001).
Wang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.