Urban adolescents readily comply with a complicated asthma research protocol

Adolescents are often cited as having poor rates of compliance with medical regimens and research protocols. We quantified compliance in a cohort of urban adolescents participating in a complex research protocol in which measures were obtained without direct supervision by research personnel.

A total of 54 early adolescents ages 10-13 were asked to wear a vest containing a personal air pollutant exposure monitor for two 24-hour periods and to perform daily peak expiratory flow (PEF) for six consecutive days. Compliance with wearing the vest was measured by comparing accelerometer data from a device within the vest to one worn continuously on the child's wrist. Daily PEF data were recorded using an electronic meter.

A priori definition of compliance was met by 85% of the adolescents by wearing the exposure monitoring vest and 72% by performing PEF.

These findings suggest that early adolescents can be compliant with complex research protocols that are needed to help bridge gaps in pediatric asthma research.