Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Medical Research Methodology
Published in: BMC Medical Research Methodology 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research article

The effect of postal questionnaire burden on response rate and answer patterns following admission to intensive care: a randomised controlled trial

Authors: Robert Hatch, Duncan Young, Vicki Barber, David A Harrison, Peter Watkinson

Published in: BMC Medical Research Methodology | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The effects of postal questionnaire burden on return rates and answers given are unclear following treatment on an intensive care unit (ICU). We aimed to establish the effects of different postal questionnaire burdens on return rates and answers given.

Methods

Design: A parallel group randomised controlled trial. We assigned patients by computer-based randomisation to one of two questionnaire packs (Group A and Group B).
Setting: Patients from 26 ICUs in the United Kingdom.
Inclusion criteria: Patients who had received at least 24 h of level 3 care and were 16 years of age or older. Patients did not know that there were different questionnaire burdens. The study included 18,490 patients. 12,170 were eligible to be sent a questionnaire pack at 3 months. We sent 12,105 questionnaires (6112 to group A and 5993 to group B).
Interventions: The Group A pack contained demographic and EuroQol group 5 Dimensions 3 level (EQ-5D-3 L) questionnaires, making four questionnaire pages. The Group B pack also contained the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS) and the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Check List-Civilian (PCL-C) questionnaires, making eight questionnaire pages in total.
Main outcome measure: Questionnaire return rate 3 months after ICU discharge by group.

Results

In group A, 2466/6112 (40.3%) participants responded at 3 months. In group B 2315/ 5993 (38.6%) participants responded (difference 1.7% CI for difference 0–3.5% p = 0.053).
Group A reported better functionality than group B in the EQ-5D-3 L mobility (41% versus 37% reporting no problems p = 0.003) and anxiety/depression (59% versus 55% reporting no problems p = 0.017) domains.

Conclusions

In survivors of intensive care, questionnaire burden had no effect on return rates. However, questionnaire burden affected answers to the same questionnaire (EQ-5D-3 L).

Trial registration

ISRCTN69112866 (assigned 02/05/2006).
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Galea S, Tracy M. Participation rates in epidemiologic studies. Ann Epidemiol. 2007;17(9):643–53.CrossRefPubMed
2.
Kristman V, Manno M, Cote P. Loss to follow-up in cohort studies: how much is too much? Eur J Epidemiol. 2004;19(8):751–60.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Brueton VC, Tierney JF, Stenning S, Meredith S, Harding S, Nazareth I, Rait G. Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials: a Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2014;4(2):e003821.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
4.
Edwards P, Roberts I, Sandercock P, Frost C. Follow-up by mail in clinical trials: does questionnaire length matter? Control Clin Trials. 2004;25(1):31–52.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Edwards PJ, Roberts I, Clarke MJ, Diguiseppi C, Wentz R, Kwan I, Cooper R, Felix LM, Pratap S. Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009;8(3):MR000008.
6.
Nakash RA, Hutton JL, Jorstad-Stein EC, Gates S, Lamb SE. Maximising response to postal questionnaires—a systematic review of randomised trials in health research. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2006;6:5.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
7.
Dorman PJ, Slattery J, Farrell B, Dennis MS, Sandercock PA. A randomised comparison of the EuroQol and Short Form-36 after stroke. United Kingdom collaborators in the International Stroke Trial. BMJ. 1997;315(7106):461.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
8.
Cuthbertson BH, Roughton S, Jenkinson D, Maclennan G, Vale L. Quality of life in the 5 years after intensive care: a cohort study. Crit Care. 2010;14(1):R6.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
9.
Griffiths J, Hatch RA, Bishop J, Morgan K, Jenkinson C, Cuthbertson BH, Brett SJ. An exploration of social and economic outcome and associated health-related quality of life after critical illness in general intensive care unit survivors: a 12-month follow-up study. Crit Care. 2013;17(3):R100.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
10.
Kaarlola A, Tallgren M, Pettila V. Long-term survival, quality of life, and quality-adjusted life-years among critically ill elderly patients. Crit Care Med. 2006;34(8):2120–6.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Karlsson S, Ruokonen E, Varpula T, Ala-Kokko TI, Pettila V, Finnsepsis Study G. Long-term outcome and quality-adjusted life years after severe sepsis. Crit Care Med. 2009;37(4):1268–74.CrossRefPubMed
12.
Tian ZM, Miranda DR. Quality of life after intensive care with the sickness impact profile. Intensive Care Med. 1995;21(5):422–8.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Jenkinson C, Coulter A, Reeves R, Bruster S, Richards N. Properties of the Picker Patient Experience questionnaire in a randomized controlled trial of long versus short form survey instruments. J Public Health Med. 2003;25(3):197–201.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Smith V, Clarke M, Devane D, Begley C, Shorter G, Maguire L. SWAT 1: what effects do site visits by the principal investigator have on recruitment in a multicentre randomized trial? J Evid Based Med. 2013;6(3):136–7.CrossRefPubMed
15.
16.
The Intensive Care Society LSaG: Levels of critical care for adult patients. 2009.
17.
Harrison DA, Brady AR, Rowan K. Case mix, outcome and length of stay for admissions to adult, general critical care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre Case Mix Programme Database. Crit Care. 2004;8(2):R99–R111.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
18.
19.
20.
21.
Sharp L, Cochran C, Cotton SC, Gray NM, Gallagher ME, Group T. Enclosing a pen with a postal questionnaire can significantly increase the response rate. J Clin Epidemiol. 2006;59(7):747–54.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Mallen CD, Dunn KM, Thomas E, Peat G. Thicker paper and larger font increased response and completeness in a postal survey. J Clin Epidemiol. 2008;61(12):1296–300.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Smith V, Clarke M, Begley C, Devane D. SWAT-1: The effectiveness of a ‘site visit’ intervention on recruitment rates in a multi-centre randomised trial. Trials. 2015;16:211.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Metadata
Title
The effect of postal questionnaire burden on response rate and answer patterns following admission to intensive care: a randomised controlled trial
Authors
Robert Hatch
Duncan Young
Vicki Barber
David A Harrison
Peter Watkinson
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Medical Research Methodology / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2288
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-017-0319-3

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

BMC Medical Research Methodology 1/2017 Go to the issue

Research article

Using structural equation modeling for network meta-analysis

Research Article

Efficient confidence limits for adaptive one-arm two-stage clinical trials with binary endpoints

Research article

Estimation of treatment preference effects in clinical trials when some participants are indifferent to treatment choice

Research Article

Nonlinear joint models for individual dynamic prediction of risk of death using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo: application to metastatic prostate cancer

Research article

Assessment of consent models as an ethical consideration in the conduct of prehospital ambulance randomised controlled clinical trials: a systematic review

Research article

Participant retention practices in longitudinal clinical research studies with high retention rates