To the Editor: Poor adherence to therapy with asthma preventer medications is common among teenagers with asthma. This is often simple forgetfulness rather than active non-compliance. One of our adherent patients shared his secret with us — the alarm mode on his mobile phone. He set this to be activated twice daily to remind him to take his medicine. A recent survey by Newspoll showed that about 90% of teenagers aged between 13 and 19 years in Melbourne and Sydney have a mobile phone, most of them on a prepaid plan.1 We have subsequently recommended this reminder system to other patients, who have expressed interest in adopting the practice.
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Correspondence:
- 1. National Nine News. Sci tech news. More than 80% of teens armed with phones. 28 Sep, 2004. Available at: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=10802 (accessed Nov 2004).
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