title: Predictors of 4-year retention among African American and white community-dwelling participants in the UAB study of aging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify racial/ethnic differences in retention of older adults at 3 levels of participation in a prospective observational study: telephone, in-home assessments, and home visits followed by blood draws.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study of 1,000 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older included a baseline in-home assessment and telephone follow-up calls at 6-month intervals; at 4 years, participants were asked to complete an additional in-home assessment and have blood drawn.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 4 years, 21.7% died and 0.7% withdrew, leaving 776 participants eligible for follow-up (49% African American; 46% male; 51% rural). Retention for telephone follow-up was 94.5% (N = 733/776); 624/733 (85.1%) had home interviews, and 408/624 (65.4%) had a nurse come to the home for the blood draw. African American race was an independent predictor of participation in in-home assessments, but African American race and rural residence were independent predictors of not participating in a blood draw.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recruitment efforts designed to demonstrate respect for all research participants, home visits, and telephone follow-up interviews facilitate high retention rates for both African American and White older adults; however, additional efforts are required to enhance participation of African American and rural participants in research requiring blood draws.
authors.affiliation: Birmingham/Atlanta VA GRECC, University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Aging CH19-201, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. rallman@uab.edu
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Allman
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crowther
authors.forename: Harry S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Strothers
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Mona N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Fouad
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D000407:Alabama / Q000453:epidemiology; D000465:Algorithms; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003256:Community Participation; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006792:House Calls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008603:Mental Health; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018579:Patient Selection; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013689:Telephone; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*