Duus Holm Zacharias, Zibert John Robert, Thomsen Simon Francis, Isberg Ari Pall, Andersen Anders Daniel, Ali Zarqa
Studies&Me A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Department of Dermato-Venereology and Wound Healing Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Copenhagen, Denmark.
JMIR Dermatol. 2023 Jun 20;6:e44405. doi: 10.2196/44405.
Wide-ranging patient recruitment not restricted to the location of the investigator will provide a better representation of the patient population in clinical studies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
广泛招募患者而不受研究者所在地的限制，将能更好地代表临床研究中的患者群体。
我们的目标是评估在一项为期8周的观察性研究中，采用广泛的基于网络的招募策略的可行性，该研究涉及500名来自远离研究者所在地的银屑病患者和健康对照者，并评估与每位参与者相关的成本。
丹麦的一个分散团队通过谷歌和脸书广告以及在脸书群组上发布帖子来招募银屑病患者和健康对照者。所有个体均通过互联网进行筛选，确诊为银屑病的患者被纳入研究。两组在入组时、第4周和第8周均完成了关于瘙痒和睡眠的问卷调查。
在为期2周的招募期内，记录到12887次独立广告浏览量，839名参与者入组，其中507名完成了研究（220名银屑病患者和287名健康对照者），保留率为60.4%。参与者来自4个不同大陆的11个不同国家，主要是美国、加拿大和英国。招募率为每天59.9名参与者，转化率为57.2%。招募成本为每名入组参与者花费13美元，每名完成研究的参与者花费22美元。
从不同于研究者的地点招募大量参与者并在不前往临床站点的观察性研究中以低成本留住患者是可行且快速的。
