Parents’ voluntary consent to participate in research: biased sampling in relation to the population?
Abstract
The Moscow Research Institute of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery is taking part in the international MecMilk study. Its purpose is to reveal and estimate possible differences between those who have consented to participate in the MecMilk study and those who have refused. A Moscow cohort of 393 infants, the mothers of 200 babies of them agreed to take part in the MecMilk study, was recruited in 2011. Familial allergy history data in these neonatal infants were collected. A year later, 363 (92,4%) mothers were interviewed using the United Kingdom Working Party criteria for atopic dermatitis. The incidence of allergic manifestations was two-fold higher in the families who had agreed to participate in the MecMilk study. The manifestations of atopical dermatitis were recorded in 8 of the 200 babies aged one year whose mothers had consented to participate in the study while 193 infants whose mothers had refused presented with no symptoms of atopic dermatitis (р=0,0074). Thus, those who had agreed to participate in the MecMilk study differed from those who had refused in the incidence of allergic manifestations among the babies and their relatives. The probability of biased sampling in relation to the population should be taken in consideration when planning a study and interpreting its results. Otherwise it will be not difficult, but also incorrect to compare obtained results.
About the Authors
M. S. Тreneva
Research Clinical Institute of Pediatric, Moscow
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
D. B. Мunblit
Imperial College London, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
A. N. Pampura
Research Clinical Institute of Pediatric, Moscow
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Тreneva M.S., Мunblit D.B., Pampura A.N. Parents’ voluntary consent to participate in research: biased sampling in relation to the population? Rossiyskiy Vestnik Perinatologii i Pediatrii (Russian Bulletin of Perinatology and Pediatrics). 2014;59(1):82-87. (In Russ.)
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