Factors associated with attrition of adult participants in a longitudinal database: A National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research Burn Model System Study.

Participant attrition in longitudinal studies can lead to substantial bias in study results, especially when attrition is non-random. A previous study of the Burn Model System (BMS) database prior to 2002 identified participant and study related factors related to attrition. The purpose of the current study was to examine changes in attrition rates in the BMS longitudinal database since 2002 and revisit factors associated with attrition. Individuals 18 years and older enrolled in the BMS database between 2002 and 2018 were included in this study. Step-wise logistic regression models identified factors significantly associated with attrition at 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months post burn injury. The percentage of individuals lost to follow-up was 26% at 6 months, 33% at 12 months, and 42% at 24 months. Factors associated with increased risk of loss to follow-up across two or more time points include male gender, lower TBSA burn size, being unemployed at the time of burn, shorter duration of acute hospital stay, younger age, not having private health insurance or workers' compensation, and a history of drug abuse. Retention levels in the BMS have improved by at least 10% at all timepoints since 2002. The BMS and other longitudinal burn research projects can use these results to identify individuals at high risk for attrition who may require additional retention efforts. Results also indicate potential sources of bias in research projects utilizing the BMS database.

• Publication year

  2019

• Venue

  Journal of Burn Care & Research

• Publication date

  2019-11-18

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1093/jbcr/irz186PMID 31738436PMCID PMC9121819
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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