title: The recruitment process for a multicenter study on the long-term prophylactic treatment of affective disorders.
abstract: The paper reports on the process of patient recruitment for a controlled clinical multicenter study on the treatment of affective disorders. Two thirds of the patients screened did not participate because prophylactic treatment was either unnecessary or not justified for medical reasons. Further, a number of patients equal to that eventually allocated to the trial refused to participate for personal, idiosyncratic reasons. In spite of this, the patients in the trial were very similar to those not participating with respect to relevant variables such as age, sex, number of and intervals between previous episodes or severity of the present episode.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Hospital, University of Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Greil
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ludwig-Mayerhofer
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Steller
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Czernik
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Giedke
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Müller-Oerlinghausen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osterheider
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Rudolf
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tegeler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000341:Affective Disorders, Psychotic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D000639:Amitriptyline / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004608:Eligibility Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016651:Lithium Carbonate / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D000639:Amitriptyline; D016651:Lithium Carbonate; D002220:Carbamazepine