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Epidemiology, Monitoring and Evaluation
P3.67 Recruitment and retention of chlamydia trachomatis positive women in the multicenter longitudinal cohort study femcure
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  1. L Eppings1,2,
  2. CJPA Hoebe1,2,
  3. T Heijman3,
  4. AA Hogewoning3,
  5. HM Götz4,5,6,
  6. HJ de Vries3,7,8,9,
  7. PFG Wolffs2,
  8. NHTM Dukers-Muijrers1,2
  1. 1Public Health Service South Limburg, Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health, Geleen, the Netherlands
  2. 2Maastricht University Medical Centre – School of Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht, the Netherlands
  3. 3STI Outpatient Clinic, Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD Amsterdam), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  4. 4Department Infectious Disease Control, Municipal Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond (GGD Rotterdam), Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  5. 5National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, Centre for Infectious Disease Control, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
  6. 6Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC – University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  7. 7Department of Infectious Diseases, Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD Amsterdam), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  8. 8Centre for Infection and Immunity Amsterdam (CINIMA), Academic Medical Centre (AMC), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  9. 9Department of Dermatology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract

Introduction Longitudinal cohort studies provide unique insights but preventing drop-out and missing values is challenging. The aim of this study is to describe how to recruit and maximise retention of 400 Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) positive women in FemCure, an ongoing longitudinal multicenter cohort study aiming to recruit (extra)genital CT positive women.

Methods Recruitment took place at 3 STI-clinics (South Limburg, Amsterdam and Rotterdam). Of the invited women 29% joined. They collected vaginal, anorectal and (nurse-taken) oral swabs and completed online questionnaires pre-treatment, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks post-treatment. To minimise loss to follow up (ltfu) various reminders were sent, small incentives were given and no show at the 2nd visit were replaced. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess predictors for ltfu (i.e. age, education level, steady partner, ethnicity, previous CT diagnosis, recruitment clinic, and anatomic site of infection). The results include the first 7 months of recruitment.

Results By 11-dec-16 143 participants completed fu. Of them, 81% had complete data, 17% (n=24) was ltfu, of which 18 before the 2nd visit. Nine cases had missing data. Of all questionnaires and swabs (n=1144), 12% was completed after a reminder. Multivariate logistic regression showed that education and age were associated with ltfu. Low education was related to more ltfu than higher education (OR=2.8, 95% CI 1.1–6.8). Those aged 23=> were related to more ltfu than those <23 (OR=2.5, 95% CI 1.0–6.4). No other variables were statistically significantly associated, this may change with ongoing recruitment. At the last visit 86% reported to participate again in a similar study (reasons given include helping others/friendliness of the staff) while the others mention time constraints as a barrier.

Conclusion These preliminary results show a retention rate of 81% without missing data. Approaches described, especially combined with committed healthcare providers can be used to motivate participants to complete fu in future longitudinal multicenter studies.

https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2017-053264.302

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