Text Messaging Interventions for Reducing Alcohol Consumption Among risky drinkers : Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The global growth of mobile phone use has led to new opportunities for health interventions, including through text messaging. We aimed to estimate the effects of text messaging interventions on alcohol consumption among risky drinkers. METHODS: Systematic review and meta-analysis of reports on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in English. Searches were done on May 23 2019 in PubMed; PubMed Central; CENTRAL; CDSR; DARE; NHS-EED; Scopus; PsycINFO; PsycARTICLES; CINAHL; and Web of Science. Measurements included number of episodes of heavy drinking per month (HED) and weekly alcohol consumption in grams (WAC). Trials among risky drinkers who were not receiving co-interventions were included in the review (n = 3481, mean 29 years of age, 41% female). Data were extracted from reports and authors were contacted for additional data. RESULTS: Ten trials were included and all analyses based on random effects models. Primary analyses, including seven trials (n=2528) for HED and five trials (n=2236) for WAC, found that the interventions may reduce self-reported HED (-0.33 episodes per month; 95% CI = -0.79; 0.12) and WAC (-18.62 grams per week; 95% CI = -39.61; 2.38), though both estimates included the null. The GRADE quality of evidence was judged to be low for both HED and WAC, primarily due to risk of attrition and performance bias, heterogeneity, and influence of pilot trials on estimates. CONCLUSIONS: Text messaging alcohol interventions may reduce alcohol consumption compared with no or basic health information; however, there are doubts about the overall quality of the evidence.