BACKGROUND: How to recruit minority @entity1 into research studies has been an issue since 1993, when NIH funding guidelines required minorities to be included as research @entity1 . OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this analysis was to determine what factors affected recruitment of asthmatic minorities into a large bronchoconstrictor study involving African-Americans, Hispanics/Mexican Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and whites with mild @entity565 (forced expiratory volume in the first second of expiration > or = 70%). METHODS: Ethnic minorities were recruited for 3 years. Recruitment strategies included physician and clinic referrals, newspaper ads, posters in health care settings, @entity565 databases, and electronic resources. FINDINGS: After 3 years, the total number of referrals was 650, with 50 from medical doctor clinic settings and 600 from all of the other resources. The inclusion/exclusion criteria were clearly listed, but only 64.5% (419/650) of respondents met inclusion criteria. Of these, only 31.9% (134/419) [corrected] met pulmonary function testing criteria. Only 5, or 1% of the 50 medical doctor clinic referrals met inclusion criteria--1 participated. A total of 106, or 82.8%, completed all of the study procedures; for 87.7% of @entity1 this was their first research experience. Hispanics/Mexican Americans accounted for only 14.8% of the total recruitment responses. CONCLUSION: We believe our recruitment strategies did encourage ethnic minorities to participate, but the inclusion criteria of a positive @entity2710 response proved to be a study enrollment barrier.

Recruitment of asthmatic ethnic minorities into a XXXX research study: factors influencing participation.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants'] @entity565 :: ('MESH:D001249', 'Disease') :: ['asthma'] @entity2710 :: ('MESH:D016210', 'Chemical') :: ['methacholine']
@entity2710 :: (MESH:D016210,Chemical) :: ['methacholine']
