Abstract
Purpose :
The Bifocal Lenses In Nearsighted Kids (BLINK) Study is a randomized clinical trial to determine whether soft bifocal contact lenses slow myopia progression. This abstract describes the recruitment methods and their associated costs.
Methods :
We enrolled 294 children at The Ohio State University and the University of Houston Colleges of Optometry who were 7 to 11 years old with spherical component myopia between -0.75 D and -5.00 D (inclusive) and 1.00 D cylinder or less at the corneal plane. All subjects were enrolled between September 22, 2014 and June 20, 2016. The cost of recruitment and recruitment source for each call were recorded at the clinical sites.
Results :
Recruitment methods resulted in 1,075 calls from the parents of potential subjects. Of those 1,075 calls, 466 (43.3%) were eligible to participate in the baseline examination. We examined 443 subjects for eligibility during the baseline examination, and 294 (66.4%) were eligible for enrollment. A total of 27.3% of the calls resulted in an eligible subject. A total of $49,093 was spent on recruitment at the two clinical sites, which equals $46 per call received or $167 per subject enrolled. Radio or print advertisements accounted for 56.4% of the expenses, 20.6% were from mailings, and 16.7% were from flyers. Of the 1,066 calls with a recruitment source recorded, 327 (30.7%) were from flyers, 313 (29.4%) were from free sources such as email, electronic postings, and social media or websites, 145 (13.6%) were from mailings, 124 (11.6%) were from radio and print advertisements, 111 (10.4%) were from brochures, and 46 (4.3%) were from an unknown source. The cost per call from an interested parent for each of these categories was $223 from radio and print advertisements, $70 from mailings, $25 from flyers, and $6 from brochures.
Conclusions :
Several methods to recruit subjects for the BLINK Study were utilized, and these data can help future studies budget for recruitment and maximize recruitment dollars spent. The free advertising methods that include (email, electronic postings, and social media or website advertising) along with flyers and brochures provided the best balance of cost efficiency and success (70.5% of calls). Radio and print advertising were least cost effective.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.