RECRUITMENT EXPERIENCE IN THE FULL-SCALE PHASE OF THE MODIFICATION OFDIET IN RENAL-DISEASE STUDY

The Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study is a randomized , multicenter clinical trial testing the effects of three different le vels of dietary protein and phosphorus intake and two levels of blood pressure control on the rate of loss of kidney function in persons wit h various chronic kidney diseases. During a 27-month recruitment perio d, 2507 persons who had objective evidence of impaired kidney function were screened at 15 centers. Eight hundred and forty men and women ag ed 18-70 with a glomerular filtration rate between 13 and 55 ml/min/1. 73 m(2) were randomized. Medical record review was the primary means o f identifying study participants at the beginning of recruitment. Late r, use of mass media was instrumental in alerting both the public and the medical community of the need for MDRD Study participants. Overall , the most important sources of randomized participants were referral by personal physician (45.4%) and relative/friend (5.6%), and self-ref erral after hearing about the trial from newspapers (23.9%) and televi sion (5.2%). Review of medical records from defined patient population s was the source of 22.3% of the randomized study participants. A tota l of 9.4% of the randomized participants called a toll-free (800) tele phone number before contacting the centers.