TY - JOUR
T1 - Who is our cohort
T2 - Recruitment, representativeness, baseline risk and retention in the "Watch Me Grow" study?
AU - Woolfenden, Susan
AU - Eapen, Valsamma
AU - Axelsson, Emma
AU - Hendry, Alexandra
AU - Jalaludin, Bin
AU - Dissanayake, Cheryl
AU - Overs, Bronwyn
AU - Descallar, Joseph
AU - Eastwood, John
AU - Einfeld, Stewart
AU - Silove, Natalie
AU - Short, Kate
AU - Beasley, Deborah
AU - Črnčec, Rudi
AU - Murphy, Elisabeth
AU - Williams, Katrina
AU - the 'Watch Me Grow' study group
AU - Harvey, Susan
AU - Walter, Amelia
AU - Matthey, Stephen
AU - Shine, Tara
AU - Ha, Trinh
AU - Wong, Olivia
AU - Garg, Pankaj P.
AU - Deering, April
AU - Cleary, Janelle
AU - Nguyen, Van
AU - Ha, Mary
AU - Butler, Cherie
AU - Yakob, Banosha
PY - 2016/3/24
Y1 - 2016/3/24
N2 - Background: The "Watch Me Grow" (WMG) study examines the current developmental surveillance system in South West Sydney. This paper describes the establishment of the study birth cohort, including the recruitment processes, representativeness, follow-up and participants' baseline risk for future developmental risk. Methods: Newborn infants and their parents were recruited from two public hospital postnatal wards and through child health nurses during the years 2011-2013. Data was obtained through a detailed participant questionnaire and linked with the participant's electronic medical record (EMR). Representativeness was determined by Chi-square analyses of the available clinical, psychosocial and sociodemographic EMR data, comparing the WMG participants to eligible non-participants. Reasons for non-participation were also elicited. Participant characteristics were examined in six, 12, and 18-month follow-ups. Results: The number of infants recruited totalled 2,025, with 50 % of those approached agreeing to participate. Reasons for parents not participating included: lack of interest, being too busy, having plans to relocate, language barriers, participation in other research projects, and privacy concerns. The WMG cohort was broadly representative of the culturally diverse and socially disadvantaged local population from which it was sampled. Of the original 2025 participants enrolled at birth, participants with PEDS outcome data available at follow-up were: 792 (39 %) at six months, 649 (32 %) at 12 months, and 565 (28 %) at 18 months. Participants with greater psychosocial risk were less likely to have follow-up outcome data. Almost 40 % of infants in the baseline cohort were exposed to at least two risk factors known to be associated with developmental risk. Conclusions: The WMG study birth cohort is a valuable resource for health services due to the inclusion of participants from vulnerable populations, despite there being challenges in being able to actively follow-up this population.
AB - Background: The "Watch Me Grow" (WMG) study examines the current developmental surveillance system in South West Sydney. This paper describes the establishment of the study birth cohort, including the recruitment processes, representativeness, follow-up and participants' baseline risk for future developmental risk. Methods: Newborn infants and their parents were recruited from two public hospital postnatal wards and through child health nurses during the years 2011-2013. Data was obtained through a detailed participant questionnaire and linked with the participant's electronic medical record (EMR). Representativeness was determined by Chi-square analyses of the available clinical, psychosocial and sociodemographic EMR data, comparing the WMG participants to eligible non-participants. Reasons for non-participation were also elicited. Participant characteristics were examined in six, 12, and 18-month follow-ups. Results: The number of infants recruited totalled 2,025, with 50 % of those approached agreeing to participate. Reasons for parents not participating included: lack of interest, being too busy, having plans to relocate, language barriers, participation in other research projects, and privacy concerns. The WMG cohort was broadly representative of the culturally diverse and socially disadvantaged local population from which it was sampled. Of the original 2025 participants enrolled at birth, participants with PEDS outcome data available at follow-up were: 792 (39 %) at six months, 649 (32 %) at 12 months, and 565 (28 %) at 18 months. Participants with greater psychosocial risk were less likely to have follow-up outcome data. Almost 40 % of infants in the baseline cohort were exposed to at least two risk factors known to be associated with developmental risk. Conclusions: The WMG study birth cohort is a valuable resource for health services due to the inclusion of participants from vulnerable populations, despite there being challenges in being able to actively follow-up this population.
KW - Birth cohort
KW - Participation bias
KW - Recruitment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962013912&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12887-016-0582-1
DO - 10.1186/s12887-016-0582-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 27013220
AN - SCOPUS:84962013912
SN - 1471-2431
VL - 16
JO - BMC Pediatrics
JF - BMC Pediatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 46
ER -