The impact of the method of consent on response rates in the ISAAC time trends study.

• Autores: Ellwood, P, Asher, M I, Stewart, A W, Chiarella, Pacual, ISAAC Phase III Study Group
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2010
• Institución: Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
• Repositorio: UPC-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorioacademico.upc.edu.pe:10757/625750
• Enlace del recurso: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/625750
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Asthma; Children; Consent; Epidemiology; ISAAC; Adolescent; Child; Consent Forms; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Global Health; Health Surveys; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Male; Prevalence; Time Factors

BACKGROUND: Centres in Phases I and III of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) programme used the method of consent (passive or active) required by local ethics committees. METHODS: Retrospectively, relationships between achieved response rates and method of consent for 13-14 and 6-7-year-olds (adolescents and children, respectively), were examined between phases and between English and non-English language centres. RESULTS: Information was obtained for 113 of 115 centres for adolescents and 72/72 centres for children. Both age groups: most centres using passive consent achieved high response rates (>80% adolescents and >70% children). English language centres using active consent showed a larger decrease in response rate. Adolescents: seven centres changed from passive consent in Phase I to active consent in Phase III (median decrease of 13%), with five centres showing lower response rates (as low as 34%). Children: no centre changed consent method between phases. Centres using active consent had lower median response rates (lowest response rate 45%). CONCLUSION: The requirement for active consent for population school-based questionnaire studies can impact negatively on response rates, particularly English language centres, thus adversely affecting the validity of the data. Ethics committees need to consider this issue carefully.