A new study in JAMA found that sending electronic reminders (or “nudges”) significantly improved influenza vaccination rates among people with chronic diseases compared to standard care. During the 2022–2023 flu season in Denmark, researchers found only 40.7% of patients with diabetes and 44.6% with heart failure received flu shots. After sending electronic letters with tailored messages to 299,881 patients aged 18 to 64 in 6 different randomized groups, the overall vaccination rate was higher for those who received the nudges (39.6%) compared to those who did not (27.9%). Each individual letter type significantly increased uptake, but cardiac health-related messages proved the most effective nudge to encourage no-cost flu vaccination on or before January 1, 2024.
Must-read nudges: The researchers used the Danish government’s electronic letter system designed for official communication from public authorities, in which citizens are legally responsible to read notifications. However, the researchers were not able to record the open rate of the flu shot nudges due to privacy concerns.