You are how you recruit: a cohort and randomized controlled trial of recruitment strategies

BMC Medical Research Methodology

Piush Mandhane⁵  Denise Hemmings⁴  Thierry Lacaze-Masmonteil¹  Donna Manca³  Tom Corbett⁴  Chris Hoskins⁴  Yiye Zeng²  Amanda Lau²  Paul Kahlke²  Amy Maghera² 

[1] Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada;Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;Respiratory Medicine; Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, 4-590 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy (ECHA), 11405 87 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada

关键词: Sample bias;    Research methods;    Birth cohort;    Recruitment;   

Others  :  1090850
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2288-14-111

 received in 2014-05-02, accepted in 2014-09-18,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Recruitment is a challenge in developing population-representative pregnancy and birth cohorts.

Methods

We developed a collaborative recruitment infrastructure (CRI) to recruit pregnant women for 4 pregnancy cohorts using: faxes from obstetrical offices, in-clinic recruiters, university and funder-driven free-media events, paid-media, and attendance at relevant tradeshows. Recruitment rates and demographic differences were compared between recruitment methods.

Results

We received 5008 referrals over 40 months. Compared to fax, free-media referrals were 13 times more likely to be recruited (OR 13.0, 95% CI 4.2, 40.4: p < 0.001) and paid-media referrals were 4 times more likely to be recruited (OR 4.6, 95% CI 2.1, 10.3: p < 0.001). Among paid-media advertisements, free-to-read print (e.g. Metro) was the most effective (OR 3.3, 95% CI 2.3, 4.5: p < 0.05). Several demographic differences were identified between recruitment methods and against a reference population. Between recruitment methods, media recruits had a similar proportion families with incomes ≥ $40,000 (paid-media: 94.4%; free-media: 93.3%) compared to fax recruits (95.7%), while in-clinic recruits were less likely to have family incomes ≥ $40,000 (88.8%, p < 0.05). Maternal recruits from fax and in-clinic were more likely to attend university (Fax: 92.6%, in-clinic 89.8%) versus the reference population (52.0%; p < 0.05 for both) and both were less likely to smoke (Fax: 6.8%, in-clinic 4.2%) versus reference (18.6%; p < 0.05 for both). However, while fax referrals were more likely to be Caucasian (85.9% versus reference 77.5%; p < 0.05), in-clinic referrals were not significantly different (78.2%; P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Recruitment methods result in different recruitment rates and participant demographics. A variety of methods are required to recruit a generalizable sample.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Maghera et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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