Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes
Abstract Objective Mobile phones are used in research studies, to enroll and follow-up participants, collect data, and implement mHealth initiatives. We conducted a longitudinal study in a birth cohort, where infants were required to make four scheduled visits by 12 months of age. Families of those...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2021-11-01
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| Series: | BMC Research Notes |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-021-05837-9 |
| _version_ | 1798034816858324992 |
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| author | Joseph L. Mathew Pooja N. Patel Abram L. Wagner Vanita Suri Bhavneet Bharti Bradley F. Carlson Matthew L. Boulton |
| author_facet | Joseph L. Mathew Pooja N. Patel Abram L. Wagner Vanita Suri Bhavneet Bharti Bradley F. Carlson Matthew L. Boulton |
| author_sort | Joseph L. Mathew |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Objective Mobile phones are used in research studies, to enroll and follow-up participants, collect data, and implement mHealth initiatives. We conducted a longitudinal study in a birth cohort, where infants were required to make four scheduled visits by 12 months of age. Families of those failing to attend scheduled follow-up visits, were contacted telephonically to ascertain the reasons, which were categorized as: not interested to continue participating, migrated, phone disconnected due to telecom change, or other reason. Results A total of 413 mother-infant dyads were enrolled. The overall attrition was 56%, with majority occurring at the first follow-up visit. This temporally coincided with a telecom service provider announcing strong incentives to switch providers. Attrition monotonically decreased at subsequent visits. The reasons were: moved away (13%), no longer interested (8%), phone disconnected (7%), and multiple other reasons (28%), the majority of whom had unreachable phones. Those who remained in the study and those lost to follow-up were similar on most demographic variables. Among common reasons for attrition in cohort studies, we experienced a new dimension introduced by telecom changes. These findings underscore the need to consider unexpected reasons for attrition in longitudinal studies, and design more robust methods to follow-up participants. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:49:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb1290009b054118bc47af409662e86b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1756-0500 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:49:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Research Notes |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb1290009b054118bc47af409662e86b2022-12-22T04:03:53ZengBMCBMC Research Notes1756-05002021-11-011411610.1186/s13104-021-05837-9Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changesJoseph L. Mathew0Pooja N. Patel1Abram L. Wagner2Vanita Suri3Bhavneet Bharti4Bradley F. Carlson5Matthew L. Boulton6Advanced Pediatrics Center, PGIMERDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of MichiganDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of MichiganDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, PGIMERAdvanced Pediatrics Center, PGIMERAdvanced Pediatrics Center, PGIMERDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of MichiganAbstract Objective Mobile phones are used in research studies, to enroll and follow-up participants, collect data, and implement mHealth initiatives. We conducted a longitudinal study in a birth cohort, where infants were required to make four scheduled visits by 12 months of age. Families of those failing to attend scheduled follow-up visits, were contacted telephonically to ascertain the reasons, which were categorized as: not interested to continue participating, migrated, phone disconnected due to telecom change, or other reason. Results A total of 413 mother-infant dyads were enrolled. The overall attrition was 56%, with majority occurring at the first follow-up visit. This temporally coincided with a telecom service provider announcing strong incentives to switch providers. Attrition monotonically decreased at subsequent visits. The reasons were: moved away (13%), no longer interested (8%), phone disconnected (7%), and multiple other reasons (28%), the majority of whom had unreachable phones. Those who remained in the study and those lost to follow-up were similar on most demographic variables. Among common reasons for attrition in cohort studies, we experienced a new dimension introduced by telecom changes. These findings underscore the need to consider unexpected reasons for attrition in longitudinal studies, and design more robust methods to follow-up participants.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-021-05837-9Loss to follow-upmHealthTelecommunications |
| spellingShingle | Joseph L. Mathew Pooja N. Patel Abram L. Wagner Vanita Suri Bhavneet Bharti Bradley F. Carlson Matthew L. Boulton Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes BMC Research Notes Loss to follow-up mHealth Telecommunications |
| title | Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes |
| title_full | Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes |
| title_short | Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes |
| title_sort | analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in chandigarh india and impact from telecom changes |
| topic | Loss to follow-up mHealth Telecommunications |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-021-05837-9 |
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