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Published in: Translational Stroke Research 5/2020

01-10-2020 | Stroke | Review Article

Recruiting Control Participants into Stroke Biomarker Studies

Authors: Matthew A. Edwardson, Stephen J. Fernandez

Published in: Translational Stroke Research | Issue 5/2020

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Abstract

The number of scientists using –omics technologies to investigate biomarkers with the potential to gauge risk and aid in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of stroke continues to rise, yet there are few resources to aid investigators in recruiting control participants. In this review, we describe two major strategies to match control participants to a stroke cohort-propensity score matching and one-to-one matching—including statistical approaches to gauge the balance between groups. We then explore the advantages and disadvantages of traditional recruitment methods including approaching spouses of enrolled stroke participants, direct recruitment from clinics, community outreach events, approaching retirement communities, and buying samples from a 3rd party vendor. Newer methods to identify controls by screening the electronic health record and using an online screening questionnaire are also described. Finally, we cover compensation for control participants and special considerations. The hope is that this review will serve as a roadmap whereby an investigator can successfully tailor their control recruitment strategy to the research question at hand and the local research environment. While this review is focused on blood-based biomarker studies, the principles will apply to investigators studying a broad range of biological materials.
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Metadata
Title
Recruiting Control Participants into Stroke Biomarker Studies
Authors
Matthew A. Edwardson
Stephen J. Fernandez
Publication date
01-10-2020
Publisher
Springer US
Keywords
Stroke
Biomarkers
Published in
Translational Stroke Research / Issue 5/2020
Print ISSN: 1868-4483
Electronic ISSN: 1868-601X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-020-00780-6

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