A successful implementation of e-epidemiology: the Danish pregnancy planning study 'Snart-Gravid'.
The attraction of being able to use the internet for the recruitment of an epidemiologic cohort stems mainly from cost efficiency and convenience. The pregnancy planning study ('Snart-Gravid')-a prospective cohort study of Danish women planning a pregnancy-was conducted to evaluate the feasibility and cost efficiency of using internet-based recruitment and follow-up. Feasibility was assessed by examining patient accrual data over time, questionnaire-specific response rates and losses to follow-up. The relative cost efficiency was examined by comparing the study costs with those of an alternative non internet-based study approach. The target recruitment of 2,500 participants over 6 months was achieved using advertisements on a health-related website, supported by a coordinated media strategy at study initiation. Questionnaire cycle-specific response rates ranged from 87 to 90% over the 12-month follow-up. At 6 months, 87% of women had a known outcome or were still under follow-up; at 12 months the figure was 82%. The study cost of $400,000 ($160 per enrolled subject) compared favorably with the estimated cost to conduct the same study using a conventional non-internet based approach ($322 per subject). The gain in efficiency with the internet-based approach appeared to be even more substantial with longer follow-up and larger study sizes. The successful conduct of this pilot study suggests that the internet may be a useful tool to recruit and follow subjects in prospective cohort studies.
Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA. kristah@bu.edu
Krista F
KF
Huybrechts
Ellen M
EM
Mikkelsen
Tina
T
Christensen
Anders H
AH
Riis
Elizabeth E
EE
Hatch
Lauren A
LA
Wise
Henrik Toft
HT
Sørensen
Kenneth J
KJ
Rothman
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D003718:Denmark; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D018579:Patient Selection; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult