title: Evaluation of parental participation in a case-control study of infant leukaemia.
abstract: This study was performed to evaluate participation rates and characteristics of participants in a case-control study of infant leukaemia. Eligible cases were identified throughout the United States, and two controls were selected for each case using a structured protocol for telephone random digit dialling. The non-participation rate, once a household agreed to provide an address to receive a letter explaining the study, was 7.9% for cases and 19.8% for controls. When comparing demographic differences between participants and non-participants, parents of eligible cases that participated were more likely than non-participating case parents to be white (P = 0.01) and to be currently married (P = 0.03); parents of eligible controls who participated were more likely than non-participating parents of eligible controls to have a higher education level (P < 0.01), more children under the age of 10 years (P = 0.05) and to be white (P < 0.01). These data have application for future studies involving infants with a serious disease and the use of random digit dialling for the selection of infant controls.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Robison
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004493:Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013689:Telephone; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology