The 'number needed to sample' in primary care research. Comparison of two primary care sampling frames for chronic back pain

Smith, Blair H.; Hannaford, Philip Christopher; Elliott, Alison M; Smith, W. C.; Chambers, W. A.

doi:10.1093/fampra/cmi009

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…We have no means of confirming the reliability of reporting. Because of the relatively low response rate and the acknowledged tendency of patients with chronic pain to respond to chronic pain questionnaires 16 , we cannot claim representativeness of the sample. However, the main objective of this analysis was to compare medication and treatment use in the chronic pain (non-POPNO) and chronic POPNO groups, and we have no reason to suppose that the study was prone to bias with imbalanced reporting by these groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medication and treatment use in primary care patients with chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin

et al. 2007

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Background. Neuropathic pain is widely recognized as one of the most difficult pain syndromes to treat and presents a significant challenge for pain clinicians and GPs.Methods. The Self-complete Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS) questionnaire, recently validated for identifying pain of predominantly neuropathic origin (POPNO), was sent to 6000 adults identified from general practices in the UK. The questionnaire also contained items about chronic pain identification, medications and treatments received for pain and the pain relief these provided.Results. In total, 1420/3002 (48%) of respondents indicated that they suffered with any chronic pain. These were further categorized as those with chronic pain who were S-LANSS negative ['chronic pain (non-POPNO)' group, n = 1179] and those with chronic pain who were S-LANSS positive, indicating the presence of POPNO ('chronic POPNO' group, n = 241). Questions relating to treatments and medications were completed by 88% of the respondents (1244/1420). The chronic POPNO group was more likely to receive multiple pain medications (37% versus 21% took two or more pain medications, P < 0.001) and stronger painkillers [e.g. opioids odds ratio 1.94; 95% confidence interval 1.10, 3.42]. Despite this, they reported less effective pain relief than the non-POPNO chronic pain group. Conclusion. Patients in primary care reporting chronic pain were found generally to obtain incomplete relief from their medication with chronic POPNO patients reporting less relief. It is important that patients with any chronic pain are identified and managed appropriately according to their distinct treatment needs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medication and treatment use in primary care patients with chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin

et al. 2007

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“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Our study adds to this sparse literature on the pros and cons of alternative ways of sampling patients from primary care. More experience with practical but valid hybrid samples in primary care is needed, especially in the context of a greater emphasis on evidence-based primary care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Four studies compare probability and nonprobability sampling. 2,6,10,11 The research of Cumming supports the proposition that a systematic sample can yield valid results, but the reported study was done in shopping centers rather than in primary care. 2 Smith et al report that a convenient treatment-specific sample (analgesia for chronic pain) yielded a demographic profile similar to that produced by a general practice population sampling scheme.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…2 Smith et al report that a convenient treatment-specific sample (analgesia for chronic pain) yielded a demographic profile similar to that produced by a general practice population sampling scheme. 10 However, the patients were offered only hypothetical rather than actual participation in a randomized trial, which changes the context. Rothemich et al describe a self-administered, office-based survey in great detail and report that the nonprobability waiting room sample was similar to the target population; however, the sample was quite large (844/1085) relative to the population, which undercuts the rationale for sampling.…”

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A Method for Obtaining an Unbiased Sample of Family Medicine Patients for Research Purposes

Logue¹,

Bourguet²

2011

The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine

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Introduction: Obtaining a representative patient sample for research purposes can be challenging. Classic probability sampling can be trusted, but these approaches are not always feasible; yet alternatives may introduce bias. We summarize relevant literature, the need for new approaches, and illustrate a practical hybrid approach that could consistently produce representative patient samples.Methods: Valid approaches shift sampling decisions from fallible interviewers to less fallible reproducible processes. In lieu of the interviewer's inclination to select particular patients, we used the day of the week, the appointment time, and the sequence of the patient's last name in the alphabet to select a sample for a consent process and a survey.Illustrative Use: Characteristics of the study sample (n ‫؍‬ 225) were compared with the characteristics of the population (N ‫؍‬ 1964) that had an office visit during the recruiting period. The data suggested that the study sample was highly representative of the population in this illustrative case.Discussion: A hybrid sampling approach, in the context of a brief consent process, and a nonthreatening interview produced a representative study sample, but formal evaluation via simulation is needed to validate the hybrid approach. Convenience samples of consecutive patients should be avoided to minimize bias. (J Am Board Fam Med 2011;24:583-588.)

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“…As most forms of interpersonal aggression have a relatively low prevalence [Schat et al, 2006], a major challenge in sampling within the field is to strike a balance between costs and efficiency on one hand, and external validity, i.e., ability to generalise the findings, on the other [cf. Smith et al, 2005]. One solution has been to utilise representative probability samples [e.g., Niedhammer et al, 2006;Schat et al, 2006].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sampling in research on interpersonal aggression

Nielsen

Einarsen

2007

Aggressive Behavior

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The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of convenience samples in research on interpersonal aggression among adults. It was hypothesised that convenience sampled targets of aggression differs from targets in general with regards to both demographic characteristics and degree of aggression exposed to. A convenience sample comprising support-seeking targets of workplace bullying was compared with a representative sample of Norwegian targets of bullying. The results showed that the two samples differed significantly on all demographic variables investigated, except gender. A far higher percentage of the convenience sample had blown the whistle on illegal, immoral or illegitimate practice at their workplace, whereas they also reported significantly more frequent and more intense exposure to aggression. The findings confirm that convenience samples have low external validity when generalising to the general population. Such samples should therefore mainly be used to investigate tendencies in, and the phenomenology of, interpersonal aggression, in studies where generalisability is not the principal objective.

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The 'number needed to sample' in primary care research. Comparison of two primary care sampling frames for chronic back pain

Cited by 18 publications

References 29 publications

Medication and treatment use in primary care patients with chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin

Medication and treatment use in primary care patients with chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin

A Method for Obtaining an Unbiased Sample of Family Medicine Patients for Research Purposes

Sampling in research on interpersonal aggression

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