The following is a summary of “Effect of Outreach Messages on Adolescent Well-Child Visits and Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine Rates: A Randomized, Controlled Trial,” published in the FEBRUARY 2023 issue of Pediatrics by Burkhardt, et al.
For a study, researchers sought to evaluate the effectiveness of text and telephone outreach messages, with and without COVID-19 vaccine information, in promoting well-care visits and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among adolescents aged 12-17 years.
It was a randomized clinical trial with an intent-to-treat, multi-arm design. The study included adolescents who did not have an adolescent well-care visit in the past year or scheduled in the next 45 days or an active electronic health record portal account. The participants were randomized into three groups: standard message, COVID-19 vaccine message, and control group. Two text or telephone calls were delivered to the message groups based on family preference.
A total of 1,235 adolescents participated in the study (mean age, 14 ± 1.5 years; 51.6% male; 76.7% Black; 4.1% Hispanic/Latinx; 88.3% publicly insured). The standard message group had a higher likelihood of scheduling an adolescent well-care visit than the control group (OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.21-3.52) and the COVID-19 vaccine message group (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.00-2.74). However, the odds of completing an adolescent well-care visit did not differ significantly between the standard message group and control group (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 0.88-2.06) or the COVID-19 vaccine message group and control group (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.87-2.03). In addition, in per-protocol analyses, adolescents in the standard message group were twice as likely as the control group to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (OR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.05-5.86).
The study found that outreach messages were minimally effective in promoting well-care visits and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among adolescents. Efforts are needed to address the widening disparities in adolescent healthcare.