[SMS-based health checkup encouragement evaluation: Focusing on effectiveness in younger age groups]

Objectives　Improving the screening rates in specific health checkups and guidance represents a challenge for health insurance providers and local governments nationwide. In this study, we evaluated SMS-based health checkup encouragement efficacy using map functionality, focusing on younger groups, as implemented in Saitama City.Methods　This study covered the fiscal year of 2022, targeting individuals aged 40-60 years who had not undergone specific health checkups and men aged 35-39 years who had not undergone national health checkups. We divided the participants into two groups: an SMS and a written recommendation group, and provided health checkup encouragement to both groups. We evaluated health checkup encouragement efficacy using the following indicators: number of accesses to the SMS, rate of those who accessed the SMS and underwent the checkup, and overall rate of those who underwent the checkup.Results　Despite high access to the health checkup information page, SMS encouragement for younger groups did not result in health checkups. The examination rate was low both for SMS and written encouragements among the younger groups and it increased with age. We observed no significant difference between the post-encouragement examination rates of SMS and written encouragements, except for those among the older groups. Conclusion　In SMS-based checkup encouragement, younger age groups tended to view the health checkup information page but did not proceed with screening. In addition, SMS recommendations were not more effective than written ones in either age group.