Volume 46, Issue 7 , Pages 801-810, July 2007
Factors Associated With Recruitment and Screening in the Treatment for Adolescents With Depression Study (TADS)
ABSTRACT
Objective
To examine factors associated with eligibility and randomization and consider the efficiency of recruitment methods.
Method
Adolescents, ages 12 to 17 years, were telephone screened (N = 2,804) followed by in-person evaluation (N = 1,088) for the Treatment for Adolescents With Depression Study. Separate logistic regression models, controlling for site, examined whether sex, age, race, or source of recruitment was associated with eligibility, providing written consent, or randomization. Efficiency was calculated from the number of completed telephone screens per each enrolled participant.
Results
Older adolescents were less likely to be eligible at telephone screening (odds ratio [OR]; 0.81). Regardless of race, eligible adolescents who were referred by a professional had higher odds of presenting in-person for consent (OR 1.56). African Americans had statistically lower odds of providing consent (OR 0.67), particularly if recruited by advertisement (OR 0.54). Females were more likely to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder (OR 1.69). No significant differences were found between randomized participants and eligible adolescents who withdrew from the study before randomization.
Conclusions
These findings underscore the importance of using multiple strategies to recruit adolescents for clinical trial participation and enhancing sensitivity to cultural variations, especially when reaching out to depressed African Americans.
Key Words: depression , Treatment for Adolescents With Depression Study , recruitment , eligibility
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Please see end of text for other author affiliations.The opinions and assertions contained in this report are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health, or the Department of Health and Human Services.TADS is supported by contract N01 MH80008 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Duke University Medical Center (John S. March, Principal Investigator).Disclosure: Dr. Kratochvil has been a consultant or scientific advisor to Eli Lilly, Shire, Cephalon, Organon, AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Abbott, and Pfizer; received research support from Abbott, Cephalon, Eli Lilly, Forest, GlaxoSmithKline, and McNeil; served on the speaker's bureau of Eli Lilly; and received study drug for an NIMH-funded study from Lilly. Dr. Silva has been a consultant to Pfizer. Dr. Pathak has received research support from Forest Laboratories. Dr. Weller has been a consultant to and/or received research support from Otsuka, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Organon, Pharma, Shire, and GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. March has been a consultant or scientific advisor to Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline, Jazz, and MedAvante; has held stock in MedAvante; received research support from Eli Lilly; received study drug for an NIMH-funded study from Lilly and Pfizer; and is the author of the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC). The other authors have no financial relationships to disclose.
PII: S0890-8567(09)62168-7
doi:10.1097/CHI.0b013e3180582019
© 2007 The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Volume 46, Issue 7 , Pages 801-810, July 2007
