Blaha RZ, Arnett AB, Kirkwood MW, Taylor HG, Stancin T, Brown TM, Wade SL. J. Head Trauma Rehabil. 2014; 30(3): E33-40.
Affiliation
Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora (Mr Blaha and Ms Arnett); Children's Hospital Colorado & University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora (Dr Kirkwood); Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital & Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (Dr Taylor); MetroHealth Medical Center & Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (Dr Stancin); Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (Dr Brown); and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center & University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio (Dr Wade).
BACKGROUND:: Attrition in longitudinal research negatively affects statistical power, disrupts statistical stability, and can produce unwanted bias.
OBJECTIVE:: To investigate factors associated with shorter length of study participation and lower rates of study completion (ie, attrition) in a large, multisite, longitudinal, randomized, clinical trial examining the efficacy of a Web-based family problem-solving treatment following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adolescence. SETTING:: Five major trauma centers in the central and western regions of the United States. PARTICIPANTS:: Children (N = 132) aged 12 to 17 years hospitalized for complicated mild to severe TBI within the previous 6 months.
RESULTS:: Completers had a higher primary caregiver education and higher family income than noncompleters, whereas ethnicity, latency to baseline assessment, and intervention group were not significantly associated with study completion.
CONCLUSION:: This is the first study that has specifically examined factors of attrition in a pediatric TBI population. The results suggest that research on pediatric TBI populations may be biased toward higher-income families and highlights the importance of designing studies with increased awareness of the impact of participant demographic factors.