Does offering an incentive payment improve recruitment to clinical trials and increase the proportion of socially deprived and elderly participants?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Patient recruitment into clinical trials is a major challenge, and the elderly, socially deprived and those with multiple comorbidities are often underrepresented. The idea of paying patients an incentive to participate in research is controversial, and evidence is needed to evaluate this as a recruitment strategy.

Method

In this study, we sought to assess the impact on clinical trial recruitment of a £100 incentive payment and whether the offer of this payment attracted more elderly and socially deprived patients. A total of 1,015 potential patients for five clinical trials (SCOT, FAST and PATHWAY 1, 2 and 3) were randomised to receive either a standard trial invitation letter or a trial invitation letter containing an incentive offer of £100. To receive payment,

SUBMITTER: Jennings CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4364332 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature