MONDAY, June 11, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- Home visits by researchers may help increase the number of caregivers who are willing to enroll Alzheimer's disease patients in clinical trials, a new study finds.
It could also boost the number of patients who stay enrolled in trials, the University of Pennsylvania researchers added.
The team interviewed 108 caregivers of Alzheimer's patients who lived in the community. Caregivers were asked about their willingness to enroll their loved ones in hypothetical studies which differed according to four variables: location of study; method of transportation to study visits; chance of receiving a drug or placebo; and level of risk of the study drug.
Of the 108 caregivers, 17 percent were willing to take part in a high-risk clinical trial with no amenities. That increased to 27 percent when home visits were added and to 60 percent when low risk, home visits, and a higher chance of the patient receiving an active treatment were included, the study found.
The option of having home visits (which eliminates the inconvenience of traveling to a clinic) offset the negative study features, such as taking a high-risk drug. It also made caregivers of sicker patients more willing to sign up for studies, the researchers said.
"Altering studies to include home visits could result in shorter recruitment periods and increased patient retention rates," study author Jason Karlawish, associate professor of medicine and associate director of the PENN Memory Center, said in a prepared statement.
"The amount of time we save through these alterations could offset the added costs of the home visits, and, in fact, we may save considerable time and expense if the participants don't have to come in to the clinic so often," he said.
The study was to be presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Prevention of Dementia, in Washington, D.C.
"Other than lack of sufficient funding, recruiting and retaining clinical volunteers is now the single greatest impediment to developing better treatment and prevention strategies for Alzheimer's," William Thies, vice president for medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association, noted in a prepared statement.
More information
The Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation has more about taking part in a clinical trial.
