Does the use of telephone reminders to increase survey response rates affect outcome estimates? An ancillary analysis of a prospective cohort study of patients with low back pain.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Research is often undertaken using patient-reported outcomes from questionnaires. Achieving a high response rate demands expensive and time-consuming methods like telephone reminders. However, it is unknown whether telephone reminders change outcome estimates or only affect the response rate in research of populations with low back pain (LBP). The aim is to compare baseline characteristics and the change in outcome between patients responding before and after receiving a telephone reminder.

Methods

This is an ancillary analysis of data from a prospective cohort study employing questionnaires from 812 adults with LBP lasting more than 3 months. Patients not responding to the 52-week questionnaire were sent reminder emails after two and 3 weeks and delivered postal

SUBMITTER: Udby CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8529745 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature