Aims:
Patient recruitment for clinical studies in dementia is a major challenge due to the aged patient group and complex comorbidities. There are additional challenges in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations. We aim to describe the establishment and early recruitment experience in our ongoing blood biomarker cohort study based within a public hospital memory clinic service that serves a CALD population.
Methods:
Patients who were undergoing diagnostic assessment in the Cognitive, Dementia, and Memory Service clinic at the Royal Melbourne Hospital were recruited from October 2023. Inclusion criteria were broad and included any clinic patients where telephone/telehealth follow-up was feasible at 12 months. Patients requiring interpreters and/or medical treatment decision makers were included. In addition to standard of care, a blood sample was obtained. Participants also completed a 12-month telephone/telehealth study visit to confirm final diagnosis. Blood biomarkers including plasma neurofilament light chain and phospho-tau-217 will be investigated for their diagnostic performance in this cohort.
Results:
73 participants (target 200) have been recruited with 90% of approached patients consenting to participate in the study. The mean age of participants is 78 years (SD 8.5 years), 63% are female and 21% are from a CALD background.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates the feasibility of dementia blood biomarker studies in clinical settings using pragmatic study designs and strategies to mitigate barriers to recruitment. By minimising exclusion criteria and visit burden, we optimised patient engagement and study participation in this diverse and clinically-representative population.