Alzheimer Disease Clinical Trial Recruitment: Does Participation in a Brief Cognitive Screen at a Community Health Fair Promote Research Engagement?

BACKGROUND: Slow participant recruitment impedes Alzheimer disease research progress. Although research suggests that direct involvement with potential participants supports enrollment, strategies for how best to engage potential participants are still unclear.

PURPOSE: This study explores whether community health fair (HF) attendees who engage in a brief cognitive screen (BCS) are more likely to enroll in research than attendees who do not complete a BCS.

SUBJECTS: A total of 483 HF attendees.

METHODS: Attendees were tracked for a 1-year period to ascertain research involvement.

RESULTS: In total, 364 attendees expressed interest in research and 126 completed a BCS. Over the follow-up period, 21 individuals prescreened as eligible and 19 enrolled in an investigational study. Among all HF attendees, BCS completers had a 2.5-fold increase in subsequently prescreening as eligible as compared with non-BCS completers. However, when limited only to participants who stated an interest in research, this difference was no longer significant.

CONCLUSIONS: Completing a BCS at a community event may be an indicator of future research engagement, but for those already interested in participation, the BCS may be a poor indicator of future involvement. The BCS may also reduce anxiety and stigma around memory evaluation, which may translate into research engagement in the future.