Why Some Doctors Recruit More Trial Patients Than Others
Recruiting general practice patients for large clinical trials: lessons from the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study looked at what helped doctors in Australia successfully sign up older adults for a major health trial. It found that location, patient age, local wealth, and how quickly doctors started the process all played a big role.
Surprising Findings
GPs in outer regional areas were nearly twice as likely to recruit trial participants compared to metropolitan doctors.
Society assumes urban hospitals and city clinics have better resources, technology, and patient access for clinical research, but the data shows the exact opposite.
Practical Takeaways
If you're designing or running a clinical trial, prioritize recruiting from regional practices and areas with a high concentration of your target demographic (e.g., residents over 70 for geriatric studies).
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study looked at what helped doctors in Australia successfully sign up older adults for a major health trial. It found that location, patient age, local wealth, and how quickly doctors started the process all played a big role.
Surprising Findings
GPs in outer regional areas were nearly twice as likely to recruit trial participants compared to metropolitan doctors.
Society assumes urban hospitals and city clinics have better resources, technology, and patient access for clinical research, but the data shows the exact opposite.
Practical Takeaways
If you're designing or running a clinical trial, prioritize recruiting from regional practices and areas with a high concentration of your target demographic (e.g., residents over 70 for geriatric studies).
Publication
Journal
Medical Journal of Australia
Year
2018
Authors
J. Lockery, T. Collyer, W. Abhayaratna, S. Fitzgerald, J. McNeil, M. Nelson, S. Orchard, C. Reid, N. Stocks, R. Trevaks, R. Woods
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Claims (5)
Giving doctors better support, like paying them for their time and cutting down on paperwork, helps them join and run medical research studies more easily.
Doctors in regional and remote areas are actually better at signing up older patients for medical research studies than doctors in big cities. This suggests that smaller, less crowded clinics might have easier ways to connect with and enroll participants for large health studies.
The demographic composition of a general practice catchment area strongly influences recruitment efficiency, with each one percentage point increase in the proportion of residents aged 70 years or older associated with a 10% increase in the likelihood of a general practitioner successfully randomising at least one trial participant. This highlights the critical importance of aligning trial target demographics with local population age structures to optimize enrollment rates.
Medical practices in wealthier neighborhoods are more successful at signing up patients for clinical trials. This might be because people in these areas have better access to health information, higher health literacy, or are more interested in participating in research.
If doctors wait too long to start recruiting patients for a study, they end up signing up far fewer people overall. Getting started quickly and staying on top of follow-ups is key to keeping recruitment on track.