FACTORS AFFECTING SAMPLE SELECTION IN A RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF BALANCE ENHANCEMENT - THE FICSIT STUDY

OBJECTIVE: To determine demographic, functional, and health-related fa ctors that may have influenced the selection of older adults for a ran domized trial of balance enhancement. DESIGN: Comparison of participan ts with nonparticipants at various stages of the recruiting process. S ETTING: Northeastern suburban community. PARTICIPANTS: Registered vote rs aged 75 and older (n = 7191). MEASUREMENTS: Demographic, health-rel ated, functional, balance, gait, and falling characteristics. RESULTS: The overall participation rate in the randomized trial was 1.5%. Comp ared with nonparticipants, participants were significantly more likely to be male, married, living with others, living in a house, highly ed ucated, healthy, and physically active. CONCLUSION: Recruiting older s ubjects by mail to studies of rigorous interventions can produce signi ficant selection biases that may limit the population to which results can be generalized.