Data-Driven Participant Recruitment: Findings From the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 3

Abstract

Background: Effective and measurable participant recruitment methods are urgently needed for clinical studies in Alzheimer’s disease. Objectives: To develop methods for measuring recruitment tactics and evaluating effectiveness. Methods: Recruitment tactics for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI3) were measured using web and phone analytics, campaign metrics and survey responses. Results: A total of 462 new participants were enrolled into ADNI3 through recruitment efforts. We collected metrics on recruitment activities including 82,003 unique visitors to the recruitment website and 3,335 calls to study phone numbers. The recruitment sources that produced the most screening and enrollment included online advertisements, local radio and newspaper coverage and emails and referrals from registries. Conclusions: Analysis of recruitment activity obtained through tracking methods provided some insight for effective recruitment. ADNI3 can serve as an example of how a data-driven approach to centralized participant recruitment can be utilized to facilitate clinical research.

T2 Protect AD: Achieving a rapid recruitment timeline in a multisite clinical trial for individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease

“…18 Local newspaper coverage helped increase enrollment into the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 3 cohort, but specific metrics on its effectiveness were not reported. 19 In the EXERT trial led by ADCS, earned news media accounted for 1.7% of randomized participants, much smaller than the proportion who learned about T2 Protect AD from earned news media (12.3%). 11 This demonstrates that each trial has unique features that need to be adapted and responded to, including the type of trial (pharmacologic vs. non-pharmacologic) and population under study (e.g., MCI vs.…”

“…News stories were the most effective method to recruit participants into the UCI C2C registry focused on preclinical AD trials, contributing to 37% of enrollees 18 . Local newspaper coverage helped increase enrollment into the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 3 cohort, but specific metrics on its effectiveness were not reported 19 . In the EXERT trial led by ADCS, earned news media accounted for 1.7% of randomized participants, much smaller than the proportion who learned about T2 Protect AD from earned news media (12.3%) 11 .…”

Brain health registry updates: An online longitudinal neuroscience platform

“…As with ADNI, which makes all data available to requestors, the BHR has freely shared data with interested investigators. Our data sharing has led to a number of publications 15–44 . The BHR data are extremely large and complex, especially due to various changes that are made to add or remove various features.…”

“…A number of local and national US AD‐related registries including the Alzheimer's Prevention Registry 7 and the Alzheimer Prevention Trial (APT) webstudy 8,9 exist, and differ in format and purpose 10–14 . Launched in 2014, the Brain Health Registry (BHR) is an online platform for the recruitment and assessment of participants for aging research 15–45 . By amassing a large pool of prequalified participants, the BHR aims to make clinical trials and neuroscience research studies more efficient and innovative.…”

Tackling a Major Deficiency of Diversity in Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutic Trials: An CTAD Task Force Report

“…General recruitment strategies have included online advertisements, local radio and newspaper coverage, and emails and referrals from patient registries (16), like the Brain Health Registry (17). Additionally, TV campaigns with community influencers such as B. Smith (a Black former model, restauranter, and TV host diagnosed with AD) and development of a Latino(a) focused participant registry aimed to improve study diversity.…”