Assessing participation bias in a population‐based study of measles‐mumps‐rubella vaccine immunity in children and adolescents aged 12–18

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to determine whether specific characteristics were associated with study participation in a group of children residing in Olmsted County, MN. We compared 346 participants and 848 non-participants from a study examining associations between human leukocyte antigen gene variants and immunity following measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination by demographic characteristics, MMR vaccination history and length of time in the Olmsted County health care system. We also compared the frequency and reasons for health care visits between participants and non-participants by comparing diagnostic codes for all visits that had occurred between 1999 and 2001. Characteristics were compared using chi-square and t-tests, followed by multivariable logistic regression. Study participants were more likely to be white/Caucasian, to have received their first MMR vaccination at a younger age, and to have had more health care visits (especially for acute respiratory illnesses, vaccinations, or other acute conditions such as fainting and headaches) than study non-participants. These results suggest that frequent use of local health care systems by children and parents may increase comfort levels with local physicians and physician researchers, thereby improving participation rates in research studies among these populations. However, special efforts may be necessary to improve research participation among children who are infrequent users of the health care systems of interest.

Human Leukocyte Antigen and Cytokine Receptor Gene Polymorphisms Associated With Heterogeneous Immune Responses to Mumps Viral Vaccine

“…21 Briefly, we recruited schoolchildren (n ϭ 346, 12-18 years of age) who were previously vaccinated with 2 doses of live attenuated MMR vaccine (Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA) that contained the Jeryl Lynn B strain of mump virus. The institutional review board of the Mayo Clinic approved the study, and we obtained parental permission (informed consent) and pediatric assent from the participants.…”

Associations between SNPs in toll-like receptors and related intracellular signaling molecules and immune responses to measles vaccine: Preliminary results

“…Our study subjects (n = 190) were randomly sampled from a previously well-characterized study cohort [10,11]. Measles virus-specific IgG levels were measured in sera using commercially available Enzygnost anti-masern-virus/IgG enzyme immunoassay (Dade Behring Marburg, Germany) following the manufacturer's instructions [12].…”

Assessing participation bias in a population‐based study of measles‐mumps‐rubella vaccine immunity in children and adolescents aged 12–18

“…With great interest we read the paper by Sauver et al 1 on participation, i.e. (self) selection bias in their study on the association between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene variants and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination-induced immunity.…”