背景:不限于研究者位置的广泛患者招募将在临床研究中更好地代表患者群体。
目的:我们的目标是在一项为期8周的观察性研究中评估广泛的基于网络的招募策略的可行性,该研究包括500名银屑病患者和远离研究者的健康对照者,并评估与每个参与者相关的成本。
方法:丹麦的一个分散团队使用Google和Facebook广告和Facebook群组的帖子招募牛皮癣患者和健康对照。所有的人都通过互联网进行了筛查,并纳入诊断为银屑病的患者。纳入时,两组均完成了有关瘙痒和睡眠的问卷调查,第4周和第8周。
结果:在为期2周的招聘期间,注册了12,887个独特的广告视图,839名参与者注册,其中507人完成研究(220例银屑病患者和287例健康对照),保留率为60.4%。参与者来自4个不同大洲的11个不同国家,主要来自美国,加拿大,和英国。招募率为每天59.9人,转化率为57.2%。招募费用为每名登记参与者13美元和每名完成研究的参与者22美元。
结论:从与研究者不同的地点招募大量参与者,并以低成本将患者保留在观察性研究中而无需访问临床站点是可行且快速的。
BACKGROUND: Wide-ranging patient recruitment not restricted to the location of the investigator will provide a better representation of the patient population in clinical studies.
OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to assess the feasibility of a broad web-based recruitment strategy in an 8-week observational study of 500 study participants with psoriasis and healthy controls from locations remote from the investigator and to assess the cost associated with each participant.
METHODS: A decentralized team in Denmark recruited patients with psoriasis and healthy controls using Google and Facebook advertisements and posts to Facebook groups. All individuals were screened via the internet, and patients diagnosed with psoriasis were included. Questionnaires regarding itch and sleep were completed by both groups at inclusion, week 4, and week 8.
RESULTS: During a 2-week recruitment period, 12,887 unique advertisement views were registered, and 839 participants were enrolled, of which 507 completed the study (220 with psoriasis and 287 healthy controls) with a retention rate of 60.4%. Participants were recruited from 11 different countries on 4 separate continents, mainly from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The recruitment rate was 59.9 participants per day, and the conversion rate was 57.2%. Recruitment costs were US $13 per enrolled participant and US $22 per participant completing the study.
CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible and rapid to recruit a large number of participants from locations different from the investigator and to retain patients in an observational study with no visits to a clinical site at low costs.