Recruitment and retention of elderly patients in clinical trials - Issues and strategies

Clinicians and researchers alike are shifting their focus to elderly patien ts to elderly patients in order to target the most effective treatments for a variety of psychiatric conditions. Clinical trials with elderly patients are the necessary because they consume the largest number of prescription medications. There are special challenges and considerations in designing a nd constructing clinical studies. The authors review the various phases of such research, including recruitment of appropriate patients and retention of those enrolled, and they make suggestions, using examples from already c ompleted research studies, illustrating the methods found to be successful.