OBJECTIVE: To determine whether reminder notices would improve the timeliness of toddler-age vaccinations. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, controlled trial. POPULATION STUDIED: Two convenience cohorts of 320 children due to receive eithermeasles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine (at 12 months of age) or diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT)-inactivated polio (IPV)- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) booster vaccine (at 18 months of age). SETTING:Suburban community. INTERVENTIONS:Parents of the identified children were randomly assigned either to a group to receive a reminder notice of pending vaccinations or a control group that did not receive a notice at a ratio of 1:1. Immunization uptake was assessed eights weeks after the initial due date for vaccination. RESULTS: Information was obtained for 224 children in the MMR group and 227 children in the DPT-IPV-Hib booster group. MMR uptake within eight weeks of the due date was about 90% in both the test and control groups, probably because of publicity surrounding a local college-based measles outbreak. In the DPT-IPV-Hib group, reminder notices had no effect; the uptake rates within eight weeks of the due date were 73.7% to 75.2%. Delays in immunization resulted mostly from parents' scheduling problems and provider-recommended delays. More than half of the parents whose child had delayed immunization did not recall receiving the reminder notice. CONCLUSIONS: Mailed reminders did not increase on-time immunization rates in the second year of a child's life. A telephone call or a more memorable reminder notice may be better suited to catch the attention of parents.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether reminder notices would improve the timeliness of toddler-age vaccinations. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, controlled trial. POPULATION STUDIED: Two convenience cohorts of 320 children due to receive either measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine (at 12 months of age) or diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT)-inactivated polio (IPV)- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) booster vaccine (at 18 months of age). SETTING: Suburban community. INTERVENTIONS: Parents of the identified children were randomly assigned either to a group to receive a reminder notice of pending vaccinations or a control group that did not receive a notice at a ratio of 1:1. Immunization uptake was assessed eights weeks after the initial due date for vaccination. RESULTS: Information was obtained for 224 children in the MMR group and 227 children in the DPT-IPV-Hib booster group. MMR uptake within eight weeks of the due date was about 90% in both the test and control groups, probably because of publicity surrounding a local college-based measles outbreak. In the DPT-IPV-Hib group, reminder notices had no effect; the uptake rates within eight weeks of the due date were 73.7% to 75.2%. Delays in immunization resulted mostly from parents' scheduling problems and provider-recommended delays. More than half of the parents whose child had delayed immunization did not recall receiving the reminder notice. CONCLUSIONS: Mailed reminders did not increase on-time immunization rates in the second year of a child's life. A telephone call or a more memorable reminder notice may be better suited to catch the attention of parents.
Authors: T A Lieu; S B Black; P Ray; J A Schwalbe; E M Lewis; A Lavetter; P A Morozumi; H R Shinefield Journal: Pediatr Infect Dis J Date: 1997-01 Impact factor: 2.129
Authors: Julie C Jacobson Vann; Robert M Jacobson; Tamera Coyne-Beasley; Josephine K Asafu-Adjei; Peter G Szilagyi Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2018-01-18