title: Multilevel Provider-Based Sampling for Recruitment of Pregnant Women and Mother-Newborn Dyads.
abstract: In 2010, the National Children's Study launched 3 alternative recruitment methods to test possible improvements in efficiency compared with traditional household-based recruitment and participant enrollment. In 2012, a fourth method, provider-based sampling (PBS), tested a probability-based sampling of prenatal provider locations supplemented by a second cohort of neonates born at a convenience sample of maternity hospitals.
  
  
  
  From a sampling frame of 472 prenatal care provider locations and 59 maternity hospitals, 49 provider and 7 hospital locations within or just outside 3 counties participated in study recruitment. During first prenatal care visits or immediately postdelivery at these locations, face-to-face contact was used to screen and recruit eligible women.
  
  
  
  Of 1450 screened women, 1270 were eligible. Consent rates at prenatal provider locations (62%-74% by county) were similar to those at birth locations (64%-77% by county). During 6 field months, 3 study centers enrolled a total prenatal cohort of 530 women (the majority in the first trimester) and during 2 months enrolled a birth cohort of an additional 320 mother-newborn dyads. As personnel became experienced in the field, the time required to enroll a woman in the prenatal cohort declined from up to 200 hours to 50 to 100 hours per woman recruited.
  
  
  
  We demonstrated that PBS was feasible and operationally efficient in recruiting a representative cohort of newborns from 3 diverse US counties. Our findings suggest that PBS is a practical approach to recruit large pregnancy and birth cohorts across the United States.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts; thomas.mclaughlin@umassmed.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts;
authors.forename: Onesky
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aupont
authors.affiliation: East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee;
authors.forename: Claudia A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kozinetz
authors.affiliation: Westat, Rockville, Maryland;
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hubble
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts;
authors.forename: Tiffany A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Moore-Simas
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky;
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, Maryland;
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, Maryland;
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts;
authors.forename: Deidre
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sepavich
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts;
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Felice
authors.affiliation: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas;
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caviness
authors.affiliation: Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts;
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Downs
authors.affiliation: University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas; and.
authors.forename: Beatrice J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Selwyn
authors.affiliation: University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
authors.forename: Michele R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Forman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000379:methods; D054582:National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.) / Q000639:trends; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult