Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders pilot study: recruitment and baseline characteristics.
OBJECTIVE
To describe several recruitment parameters derived from the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders pilot (LIFE-P) study for use in a full-scale trial of mobility disability prevention.


METHODS
A description of the recruiting methods and baseline characteristics of a four-site randomized, controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a physical activity intervention at preventing mobility disability.


METHODS
The Cooper Institute, Dallas, Texas; Stanford University, Stanford, California; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.


METHODS
Community-living persons aged 70 to 89 who were able to walk 400 m within 15 minutes and were at high risk for disability (scoring<10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)) but without comorbidity severe enough to preclude full study participation.


METHODS
Measures of efficiency included number of randomized participants per recruitment technique and costs per randomized participant across randomization techniques.


RESULTS
The 9-month recruiting period resulted in 3,141 telephone screens, of which 424 (13.5%) participants were randomized (68.9% women, 25.7% minorities, 41.5% with SPPB scores<8). Forty percent of telephone-screened participants were excluded primarily because of regular participation in physical activity, health exclusions, or self-reported mobility disability. Of the 1,252 persons attempting the physical performance assessments, 41% scored above the SPPB cutoff. Of the 566 remaining eligible, 9.9% could not complete the 400-m walk, and another 18.9% had various medical exclusions. Direct mailing was the most productive recruitment strategy (61.6% of all randomized participants). Recruitment cost approximately $439 per randomized participant.


CONCLUSIONS
The LIFE study achieved all recruitment goals and demonstrated the feasibility of recruiting high-risk community-dwelling older persons for trials of disability prevention in diverse geographic areas.
Katula
Jeffrey A
JA
Department of Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109, USA. katulaj@wfu.edu
Kritchevsky
Stephen B
SB
Guralnik
Jack M
JM
Glynn
Nancy W
NW
Pruitt
Leslie
L
Wallace
Kristin
K
Walkup
Michael P
MP
Hsu
Fang-Chi
FC
Studenski
Stephanie A
SA
Gill
Thomas M
TM
Groessl
Erik J
EJ
Wallace
Jason M
JM
Pahor
Marco
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000379:methods; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D016138:Walking