Retention of under-represented minorities in drug abuse treatment studies.

Differential attrition by minority populations can be as limiting to interpreting final results as poor initial recruitment of minority populations. This is especially important in drug abuse treatment studies, as minorities are over-represented in substance abuse clinical treatment programs. This ancillary investigation aimed to determine if there are differences in study retention rates by race/ethnicity and age, and to explore other client characteristics, as well as protocol and treatment program factors, that could account for differential retention rates. Analyzing data from six CTN trials (CTN-0001, -0002, -0005, -0006, -0007, and -0011), the researchers found that older African Americans and Caucasians had the greatest odds of retention and younger African Americans the lowest — only age was significantly related to study retention. Additionally, primary drug of abuse, having HIV risk screening as a program benefit, and lower percentages of female admissions were also significantly related to study retention.

In conclusion, efforts should be made to increase the study retention of younger participants to improve the validity and generalizability of drug abuse treatment study results.

Related protocols: CTN-0001, CTN-0002, CTN-0005, CTN-0006, CTN-0007, CTN-0011