Data-Driven Participant Recruitment: Findings from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 3

Effective and measurable participant recruitment methods are urgently needed for clinical studies in Alzheimer's disease.

To develop methods for measuring recruitment tactics and evaluating effectiveness.

Recruitment tactics for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI3) were measured using web and phone analytics, campaign metrics and survey responses.

A total of 462 new participants were enrolled into ADNI3 through recruitment efforts. We collected metrics on recruitment activities including 82,003 unique visitors to the recruitment website and 3,335 calls to study phone numbers. The recruitment sources that produced the most screening and enrollment included online advertisements, local radio and newspaper coverage and emails and referrals from registries.

Analysis of recruitment activity obtained through tracking methods provided some insight for effective recruitment. ADNI3 can serve as an example of how a data-driven approach to centralized participant recruitment can be utilized to facilitate clinical research.