Attention: Restrictions on use of AUA, AUAER, and UCF content in third party applications, including artificial intelligence technologies, such as large language models and generative AI.
You are prohibited from using or uploading content you accessed through this website into external applications, bots, software, or websites, including those using artificial intelligence technologies and infrastructure, including deep learning, machine learning and large language models and generative AI.
UPJ INSIGHT: A Cost, Time, and Demographic Analysis of Participant Recruitment and Urine Sample Collection Through Social Media Optimization
By: Prasun Sharma, BS; Laura E. Lamb, PhD; Sarah N. Bartolone, MS; Elijah P. Ward, BS; Joseph J. Janicki, MS; Kenneth M. Peters, MD; Nitya Abraham, MD; Melissa Laudano, MD; Christopher P. Smith, MD; Bernadette Zwaans, PhD; Michael B. Chancellor, MD | Posted on: 01 Nov 2022
Sharma P, Lamb LE, Bartolone SN, et al. A cost, time, and demographic analysis of participant recruitment and urine sample collection through social media optimization. Urol Pract. 2022; 9(6):560-566.
Study Need and Importance
Conducting a urine sample collection through a traditional in-person clinic can be expensive and time-consuming. Online participant recruitment has the potential to spread quickly and grow exponentially through social media sharing making it more cost- and time-effective. Crowdsourcing at-home urine sample collection has the potential to reach more participants outside a clinic’s typical geographic area at lower cost and minimize contact, which is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What We Found
We collected 1,254 unique urine samples from all 50 U.S. states through the online recruitment method in 3 months and 2 weeks (see Figure). On the other hand, the traditional in-person clinics located in New York and Houston combined collected 305 samples in 12 months. Online sample collection had a cost of $81.45 per sample while the clinic per sample cost was $398.14. The results of this study showed that contactless online recruitment of participants is 80% cheaper and 70% faster than a traditional method of recruiting participants in person at a clinic.
Limitations
One important limitation of the study is that the interstitial cystitis diagnosis for online recruited participants is patient-reported and not validated in the clinic. In addition, only patients with access to the Internet and social media would have access to crowdsourcing research.
Interpretation for Patient Care
Online recruitment of participants provides the best opportunity to rapidly and cost-effectively target a hard-to-reach population and get a national representation of the disease spectrum. Our study can be used as a guideline to establish a new methodology for urine sample collection, which may help reduce the cost of research and development, ultimately lowering the therapy costs for patients.
advertisement
advertisement