Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm and Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2010 Mar;12(3):185-90. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntp191. Epub 2010 Jan 15.
Large-scale epidemiological surveys have frequently relied upon clinic-based sample collection to incorporate biological data, which can be costly and result in nonrepresentative data. Collecting samples in a nonclinical setting (i.e., through postal mail or at the subject's home) offers an alternative option that is minimally invasive and can be incorporated into large population-based studies.
(a) To assess the feasibility of collecting biological data from a cohort of smokers in the International Tobacco Control (ITC) study, through the mail and in the home; (b) to examine whether participants are representative of the population under consideration; and (c) to evaluate how the added burden of providing biomarker samples might impact subsequent participation in a follow-up survey.
Participants were asked to provide a saliva sample and five cigarette butts from cigarettes smoked on a single day, using standardized procedures. Sample collection kits were mailed to a random sample of 400 daily cigarette smokers who were involved in the 2006 annual ITC Four Country (United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia) telephone survey and agreed to participate in sample collection. A random sample of 179 daily smokers who participated in a face-to-face ITC survey in Mexico and Uruguay and agreed to participate in sample collection were also asked to provide samples.
Samples were collected from 96% of invited participants in the face-to-face surveys and 52% of participants in the telephone survey. The added burden of the sample collection did not reduce survey retention rates. Participants who initially agreed to participate in the sample collection were more likely to participate in the subsequent survey than participants who were not asked or declined to participate (odds ratio [OR] = 1.28; 95% CI = 1.01-1.62, p = .021). Further, those who provided samples were also more likely to participate in the subsequent survey than those who did not (OR = 2.78; 95% CI = 1.71-4.52, p < .001).
Collecting saliva and cigarette butt samples from a group of smokers is feasible, yields a representative sample, and the added participant burden does not reduce subsequent survey response rates.
大规模的流行病学调查经常依赖于基于诊所的样本收集来纳入生物数据，但这种方法成本高昂，并且可能导致数据缺乏代表性。在非临床环境中收集样本（即通过邮寄或在受试者家中）提供了一种替代性选择，这种方法微创且可纳入大型基于人群的研究。
（a）评估通过邮件和家庭从国际烟草控制（ITC）研究中的吸烟者队列中收集生物数据的可行性；（b）检查参与者是否代表所考虑人群；（c）评估提供生物标志物样本的额外负担可能如何影响后续参与随访调查。
要求参与者使用标准化程序提供一份唾液样本和五支来自当天吸烟的香烟烟蒂。样本收集套件被邮寄给参与 2006 年国际烟草控制四项国家（英国、美国、加拿大和澳大利亚）年度电话调查且同意参与样本收集的 400 名每日吸烟的随机样本吸烟者。还要求参与墨西哥和乌拉圭面对面 ITC 调查且同意参与样本收集的 179 名每日吸烟者提供样本。
面对面调查中邀请的参与者中有 96%和电话调查中有 52%的参与者收集了样本。样本收集的额外负担并未降低调查保留率。最初同意参与样本收集的参与者比未被要求或拒绝参与的参与者更有可能参与后续调查（比值比[OR] = 1.28；95%置信区间[CI] = 1.01-1.62，p =.021）。此外，提供样本的参与者也比未提供样本的参与者更有可能参与后续调查（OR = 2.78；95% CI = 1.71-4.52，p <.001）。
从一组吸烟者中收集唾液和香烟烟蒂样本是可行的，可获得代表性样本，并且增加的参与者负担不会降低后续调查的响应率。
