Pediatric drug-trial recruitment: enticement without coercion

Carl L Tishler1, Natalie Staats Reiss

  • 1Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, 1776 E Broad St, Columbus, OH 43203, USA. tishler.1@osu.edu

Pediatrics
|April 6, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Recruiting children for clinical trials remains challenging due to limited infrastructure and inconsistent payment practices. Addressing these barriers is crucial for advancing pediatric medication research and ensuring patient safety.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric clinical pharmacology
  • Clinical trial management
  • Health services research

Background:

  • Limited data exist on medication effectiveness and safety in children despite federal initiatives.
  • Participant recruitment is a significant barrier to conducting pediatric clinical trials.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To summarize challenges in pediatric clinical trial recruitment.
  • To analyze current practices in pediatric participant compensation.
  • To provide recommendations for improving recruitment and retention.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of recruitment challenges in pediatric trials.
  • Database searches (Centerwatch.com, ClinicalTrials.gov) for compensation data.
  • Analysis of current payment and incentive practices.

Main Results:

  • Key recruitment barriers include inadequate research infrastructure and inconsistent use of payments/incentives.
  • Current practices for compensating pediatric trial participants lack standardization.
  • Data on compensation practices were gathered from specialized databases.

Conclusions:

  • Standardizing payment and incentive structures is essential for effective pediatric clinical trial recruitment.
  • Addressing infrastructure gaps and clarifying compensation policies can improve participant retention.
  • Recommendations are provided to overcome recruitment hurdles in pediatric research.

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