What proportion of patients refuse consent to data collection from their records for research purposes?
In a randomised trial of the implementation of guidelines for asthma and angina, we sent questionnaires that included a request for consent to collect data from the patient's clinical records to 5069 patients in 81 general practices. Of these 3429 (67.6%) responded, of whom 335 (9.8% [95%, CI = 8.8%-10.8%]) refused consent. We conclude that consent should always be sought unless a research ethics committee has waived this requirement for pressing reasons.
Baker
R
R
Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Leicester.
Shiels
C
C
Stevenson
K
K
Fraser
R
R
Stone
M
M
D000368:Aged; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012107:Research Design