Recruitment experiences in a stress incontinence clinical trial

Major delays and subsequent alterations in randomized controlled clinical trials have been attributed to poor or failed recruitment. This paper presents the recruitment methods used successfully to obtain a homogenous sample of females with stress urinary incontinence. This sample was recruited to investigate the effectiveness of a behavioral treatment. Recruitment methods and their cost effectiveness are presented for the trial's three year duration. Yields are presented as ratios of recruited/randomized subjects. Analysis showed professional referrals to have the lowest cost/yield, while newspaper advertisement produced the highest recruited/subject retention. As a result of this trial's experiences recommendations were made for differing recruitment strategies according to source/yield with additional special plans for recruiting elderly, lower income, inner city, or minority subjects.