Factors influencing the electronic capture of patient-reported contact lens performance data

Electronic data capture is becoming increasingly common for collecting real-time patient responses. The purpose of this study was to investigate compliance with a daily electronic questionnaire regarding night-time contact lens visual performance.

Forty-eight subjects (34 females) were fit and dispensed two contralateral pairs of soft contact lenses (SCLs) for one week each. Subjects were sent a nightly e-mail at 8PM containing a secure, individualized link to an electronic questionnaire asking 30 questions of varying response styles (e.g., multiple choice, short answer, etc.) about SCL visual performance. Subjects were instructed to complete the questionnaire before going to bed.

The overall completion rate based on 676 electronic questionnaires was 95.1%. Of these, only 3.6% were completed late (<24h). The percentage of subjects completing all questionnaires was significantly higher on weekdays (96.5%; Sunday through Thursday) than on weekends (91.1%; Friday and Saturday). Fisher exact tests indicated no significant association with gender for either weekday (p=0.25) or weekend (p=0.73). Although odds ratio estimates suggested that participants 23 and older were more likely to complete the questionnaire (weekday: OR=4.39, p=0.10; weekend: OR=2.93, p=0.19), these associations did not reach statistical significance.

E-mail based questionnaires provide an effective method for acquiring time specific responses, making them a viable clinical and research tool. The day(s) of the week on which assessments occur need to be strongly considered, as on-time compliance may be affected on weekend evenings, or possibly situations in which a typical schedule may not be followed.