@article{ref1,
title="Baseline and Follow‐Up Characteristics of Participants and Nonparticipants in a Randomized Clinical Trial of Multifactorial Fall Prevention in Denmark",
journal="Journal of the American Geriatrics Society",
year="2009",
author="Vind, Ane B. and Andersen, Hanne E. and Pedersen, Kirsten D. and Jørgensen, Torben and Schwarz, Peter",
volume="57",
number="10",
pages="1844-1849",
abstract="<p><b>OBJECTIVES: </b> To address the external validity of a trial of multifactorial fall prevention through an analysis of differences between participants and nonparticipants regarding socioeconomic and morbidity variables.</p> <p><b>DESIGN: </b> Analysis of nonresponse in a randomized clinical trial.</p> <p><b>SETTING: </b> Geriatric outpatient department.</p> <p><b>PARTICIPANTS: </b> One thousand one hundred five community‐dwelling adults aged 65 and older who had sustained at least one injurious fall.</p> <p><b>MEASUREMENTS: </b> Marital status, housing tenure, income, comorbidity, hospitalization, fractures, and drug use before invitation to participate in the trial. Fractures, hospitalization and death were measured for 6 months of follow‐up.</p> <p><b>RESULTS: </b> Four hundred forty‐seven responding nonparticipants and 266 nonresponding nonparticipants were compared with 392 participants in the trial. Lower income (odds ratio (OR)=2.38, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.28–4.28) and more days of hospitalization during the previous 5 years (OR=1.96, 95% CI=1.15–3.33) predicted responding nonparticipation; independent predictors of being a nonresponding nonparticipant were unmarried status (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.36–2.94), lower income (OR=4.74, 95% CI=2.30–9.78), more days of hospitalization (OR=3.49, 95% CI=1.99–6.11), and prior fractures (OR=1.56, 95% CI=1.02–2.38). Nonresponding nonparticipants were significantly more likely to die (OR=12.99, 95% CI=1.6–105.6) or be hospitalized (OR=2.66, 95% CI=1.7–4.1) than participants during 6 months of follow‐up.</p> <p><b>CONCLUSION: </b> Nonresponding nonparticipants of a trial of multifactorial fall prevention differed significantly from participants in terms of socioeconomic and morbidity variables and were more likely to be hospitalized or die during 6 months of follow‐up. Because of the differences between the two populations, it is questionable whether results from this randomized trial can be generalized to people potentially eligible for participation.</p><p />",
language="",
issn="0002-8614",
doi="10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02435.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02435.x"
}