Locating and recruiting minority and medically underserved women for a study on abnormal mammography follow-up

Objectives: Recruiting underserved women in breast cancer research studies remains a significant challenge. We attempted to locate and recruit minority and medically underserved women identified in a Nashville, TN public hospital for a mammography follow-up study. Methods: Using a retrospective hospital based case-control study; we identified 227 women (88 African American, 65 Caucasian, 36 other minority, 38 race undocumented) who received an abnormal mammography screening result. Of the 227 women identified, 159 women were successfully located with implementation of an electronic tracking protocol. Eligible women were invited to participate in a telephone survey. Study completion was defined as fully finishing the telephone survey. Results: An average of 4.6 telephone calls (range 1-19) and 2.7 months (range 1-490 days) were required to reach the 159 women contacted. After three months of effort, we located 67% of African-American women, 63% of Caucasian women, and 56% of other minorities. African-American cases were four times likely to be recruited than African-American controls, (OR, 4.07; 95% CI, 1.59-10.30) (p=0.003). After 12 attempts to contact women, 77% of African-American women and 71% of Caucasian women were eventually found. Of these, 59% of African-American women, 69% of Caucasian women, and 50% of other minorities were located and completed the study survey for an overall response rate of 59%, 71%, and 47% respectively. Conclusions: Data collection and study recruitment efforts were more challenging in racial and ethnic minorities. Continuing attempts to contact women may increase minority group study participation but does not guarantee retention or study completion.