Improving preventive health in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a randomized controlled trial of an educational video intervention

Objective To evaluate the impact of an educational video on adherence to preventive health measures in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Methods The KOMO-R study was a prospective, 6-month, single-centre, randomized controlled trial. Participants received personalized to-do lists with up to 13 tasks based on local preventive health guidelines. The intervention group additionally watched a 7-min educational video on rheumatic comorbidities. The primary outcome was the number of tasks completed from the to-do lists. Results Of 199 participants, 182 attended the 6-month follow-up. The video received a Net Promoter Score of 39.4%. Of the intervention group, 79.8% reported increased perceived importance of preventive health services after watching the video. Task completion from the to-do lists did not differ between intervention and control group (P = 0.59). Participants completed a mean of 2.6 (1.9) tasks (62.5% of tasks on their to-do lists, control 61.5%, intervention 63.3%). At 6 months' follow-up, significant increases were seen in all preventive health measures, including screenings for skin cancer (Delta 27.8%, P < 0.001), prostate cancer (Delta 21.6%, P = 0.003), colorectal cancer (Delta 13%, P < 0.001) and gynaecological cancers (P < 0.05). Vaccination rates also improved significantly, including pneumococcal (Delta 23.5%), influenza (Delta 13.2%) and herpes zoster (Delta 4.1%) (all P < 0.001). Conclusion Although the educational video was well-received and increased the perceived importance of preventive health, it showed no added benefit in improving adherence to preventive health measures. Further research is needed to explore the potential of to-do lists in preventive care as to-do lists significantly increased adherence.