McDermott Christa, Agras W Stewart, Crow Scott J, Halmi Katherine, Mitchell James E, Bryson Susan
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5722, USA.
Int J Eat Disord. 2004 Jan;35(1):33-41. doi: 10.1002/eat.10231.
To investigate the nature of differing recruitment rates for clinical treatment trials for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Recruitment rates from a study recruiting women partially recovered from anorexia nervosa were compared with the rates from two studies conducted at the same sites recruiting women with bulimia nervosa.
At all sites in the anorexia study, the total number of contacts per month rose steadily over the first 2 years of the recruitment phase then decreased to near zero with the number of participants randomized to the study practically evaporating. In contrast, the bulimia studies screened a larger group of contacts and met monthly randomization goals in the time allotted for recruitment. Participants eligible for a study but with a barrier to participation occurred at a much higher rate in the anorexia study than in the bulimia studies.
These results reveal a difficulty in planning recruitment from a small population such as partially recovered anorexics. A small population's total pool size diminishes faster than it is replenished, suggesting that future studies of anorexia nervosa may recruit more successfully from many sites in a short period rather than at a few sites over a long period.
探讨神经性厌食症和神经性贪食症临床治疗试验招募率不同的本质。
将一项招募部分康复的神经性厌食症女性的研究的招募率，与在同一地点进行的两项招募神经性贪食症女性的研究的招募率进行比较。
在厌食症研究的所有地点，在招募阶段的前两年，每月的总联系人数稳步上升，然后降至接近零，随机分配到该研究的参与者数量实际上消失了。相比之下，贪食症研究筛选了更大的联系人群体，并在分配的招募时间内达到了每月的随机化目标。符合研究条件但存在参与障碍的参与者在厌食症研究中的发生率比在贪食症研究中高得多。
这些结果揭示了从部分康复的厌食症患者等小群体中规划招募的困难。小群体的总人数减少速度比补充速度快，这表明未来神经性厌食症的研究可能在短期内从多个地点而不是在少数地点长期招募更成功。
