The Love Your Brain trial randomised 941 community-dwelling Australians aged 45 and over with no prior cardiovascular event to an online stroke prevention course, a text message programme, or control. At 12 weeks, self-reported visits to a medical practitioner for cardiovascular risk assessment were 41.3% in the text message arm against 29.0% in control (RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.14-1.80), with no difference for the online course at 31.2%. Stroke knowledge rose in both intervention arms, while medication adherence and risk-modifying behaviours did not differ.
Why it is interesting: A direct randomised comparison of two cheap information channels, in which the lighter prompt moved a behaviour and the fuller course did not.