Attrition in longitudinal studies: who do you lose?
Attrition in longitudinal studies: who do you lose?
复制标题
DOI：
10.1111/j.1467-842x.2006.tb00849.x
复制
发表时间：
2006-08-01
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Bell, Sandra L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Young, Anne F.;Powers, Jennifer R.;Bell, Sandra L.
目的：在一项纵向研究中，描述三个年龄段女性不同类型磨耗的危险因素，并探讨将磨耗降至最低的策略。方法：通过邮寄问卷收集澳大利亚妇女健康纵向研究的调查数据。1996年，该研究招募并调查了全国范围内的“年轻”(18-23岁，n=14,247)、“中年”(45-50岁，n=13,716)和“老年”(70-75岁，n=12,432)的随机样本，并开始了邮寄跟踪调查问卷的交错周期：1998(中年)、1999(年长)、2000(年青)等等。结果：在调查2中，年轻女性的流失率最高(32%)，主要是因为参与者不能接触到(21%)，而老年(16%)和中年女性(10%)的流失率较低。在调查1中，调查2的非受访者更有可能报告说，在所有队列中，受教育程度较低、出生在非英语国家和目前吸烟的人，健康状况较差(中年和老年队列)，更难管理他们的收入(年轻人和中年人)。结论：尽管不同类型的自然流失的程度因年龄而异，但有几个风险因素保持一致。这些发现对于今后如何减少或防止参与者系统性流失的研究具有重要意义。影响：纵向研究中的招募和随访方法应该量身定做，以最大限度地留住辍学风险较高的参与者。
Objective: To describe the risk factors for various types of attrition in three age cohorts of women in a longitudinal study and to discuss strategies to minimise attrition.Methods: Analysis of survey data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, collected by mailed questionnaire. In 1996, the study recruited and surveyed a national random sample of 'younger'(18-23 years, n=1 4,247),,mid-age'(45-50 years, n=13,716), and 'older'women (70-75 years, n=12,432), and began a staggered cycle of mailed follow-up questionnaires: 1998 (mid-age), 1999 (older), 2000 (younger) and so on. Demographic, health and social risk factors for attrition were examined using multivariate analysis.Results: Attrition at survey 2 was highest among younger women (32%), mainly because of participants not being contactable (21%), and lower among the older (16%) and mid-age women (10%). At survey 1, the survey 2 non-respondents were more likely to report having less education, being born in a non-Englishspeaking country and being a current smoker, in all cohorts, and had poorer health (mid-age and older cohort) and more difficulty managing on their income (younger and mid-age).Conclusion: Although the magnitude of different types of attrition was found to differ by age, there were several risk factors for attrition that remained consistent. These findings are important to inform future studies on ways to lessen or prevent systematic loss of participants. Implications: Recruitment and follow-up methods in longitudinal studies should be tailored to maximise retention of participants at higher risk of dropout.