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A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents

Introduction: The influence of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) supplementation on health outcomes has been studied extensively with randomized controlled trials (RCT). In many research fields, difficulties with recruitment, adherence and high drop-out rates have been reported...

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Autores principales: van der Wurff, Inge S. M., Meyer, Barbara J., de Groot, Renate H. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28489030
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9050474
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author van der Wurff, Inge S. M.
Meyer, Barbara J.
de Groot, Renate H. M.
author_facet van der Wurff, Inge S. M.
Meyer, Barbara J.
de Groot, Renate H. M.
author_sort van der Wurff, Inge S. M.
collection PubMed
description Introduction: The influence of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) supplementation on health outcomes has been studied extensively with randomized controlled trials (RCT). In many research fields, difficulties with recruitment, adherence and high drop-out rates have been reported. However, what is unknown is how common these problems are in n-3 LCPUFA supplementation studies in children and adolescents. Therefore, this paper will review n-3 LCPUFA supplementation studies in children and adolescents with regard to recruitment, adherence and drop-out rates. Methods: The Web of Science, PubMed and Ovid databases were searched for papers reporting on RCT supplementing children and adolescents (2–18 years) with a form of n-3 LCPUFA (or placebo) for at least four weeks. As a proxy for abiding to CONSORT guidelines, we noted whether manuscripts provided a flow-chart and provided dates defining the period of recruitment and follow-up. Results: Ninety manuscripts (reporting on 75 studies) met the inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies did not abide by the CONSORT guidelines: 55% did not provide a flow-chart, while 70% did not provide dates. The majority of studies provided minimal details about the recruitment process. Only 25 of the 75 studies reported an adherence rate which was on average 85%. Sixty-five of the 75 studies included drop-out rates which were on average 17%. Conclusion: Less than half of the included studies abided by the CONSORT guidelines (45% included a flow chart, while 30% reported dates). Problems with recruitment and drop-out seem to be common in n-3 LCPUFA supplementation trials in children and adolescents. However, reporting about recruitment, adherence and dropout rates was very heterogeneous and minimal in the included studies. Some techniques to improve recruitment, adherence and dropout rates were identified from the literature, however these techniques may need to be tailored to n-3 LCPUFA supplementation studies in children and adolescents.
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spelling pubmed-54522042017-06-05 A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents van der Wurff, Inge S. M. Meyer, Barbara J. de Groot, Renate H. M. Nutrients Review Introduction: The influence of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) supplementation on health outcomes has been studied extensively with randomized controlled trials (RCT). In many research fields, difficulties with recruitment, adherence and high drop-out rates have been reported. However, what is unknown is how common these problems are in n-3 LCPUFA supplementation studies in children and adolescents. Therefore, this paper will review n-3 LCPUFA supplementation studies in children and adolescents with regard to recruitment, adherence and drop-out rates. Methods: The Web of Science, PubMed and Ovid databases were searched for papers reporting on RCT supplementing children and adolescents (2–18 years) with a form of n-3 LCPUFA (or placebo) for at least four weeks. As a proxy for abiding to CONSORT guidelines, we noted whether manuscripts provided a flow-chart and provided dates defining the period of recruitment and follow-up. Results: Ninety manuscripts (reporting on 75 studies) met the inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies did not abide by the CONSORT guidelines: 55% did not provide a flow-chart, while 70% did not provide dates. The majority of studies provided minimal details about the recruitment process. Only 25 of the 75 studies reported an adherence rate which was on average 85%. Sixty-five of the 75 studies included drop-out rates which were on average 17%. Conclusion: Less than half of the included studies abided by the CONSORT guidelines (45% included a flow chart, while 30% reported dates). Problems with recruitment and drop-out seem to be common in n-3 LCPUFA supplementation trials in children and adolescents. However, reporting about recruitment, adherence and dropout rates was very heterogeneous and minimal in the included studies. Some techniques to improve recruitment, adherence and dropout rates were identified from the literature, however these techniques may need to be tailored to n-3 LCPUFA supplementation studies in children and adolescents. MDPI 2017-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC5452204/ /pubmed/28489030 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9050474 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
van der Wurff, Inge S. M.
Meyer, Barbara J.
de Groot, Renate H. M.
A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents
title A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents
title_full A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents
title_fullStr A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents
title_full_unstemmed A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents
title_short A Review of Recruitment, Adherence and Drop-Out Rates in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Trials in Children and Adolescents
title_sort review of recruitment, adherence and drop-out rates in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation trials in children and adolescents
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28489030
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9050474
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