Recruitment and retention of participants in randomised controlled trials: a review of trials funded and published by the United Kingdom Health Technology Assessment Programme

An evaluation of blood sampling strategies across a large UK healthcare-worker cohort study, covering how sampling approach affected participation.

Evaluating blood sampling strategies within the SIREN study: the experience from a large cohort of healthcare workers in the UK — Hettiarachchi et al., BMC Medical Research Methodology · source ↗

• dct
• acceptability
• blood
• economics
• self-collection
• capillary
• validation

In adult kidney transplant patients, adding DBS home sampling to usual care did not reduce outpatient visits or per-visit costs versus usual care alone, though most patients were willing to use DBS if it cut hospital attendances; logistical optimisation of mailing and timely analysis is required to realise travel and cost benefits.

Effects, costs and implementation of monitoring kidney transplant patients' tacrolimus levels with dried blood spot sampling: A randomized controlled hybrid implementation trial — Veenhof et al., British journal of clinical pharmacology · source ↗

• blood
• dried
• dbs
• self-collection
• acceptability
• tdm
• immunosuppressants
• dct
• economics

The study found that although participants preferred patient-centric microsampling devices for home use, the agreement with venous plasma for measuring CRP and cytokines was inconsistent, indicating that further validation is required before these methods replace standard venipuncture.

Limited agreement of cytokines and CRP through patient-centric microsampling compared to venipuncture in healthy adults — Tuttle et al., Bioanalysis (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• venous-agreement
• acceptability
• blood
• dbs
• self-collection
• dried
• biomarkers

This study validated a low-cost 3D-printed smartphone attachment and paper sensor for measuring glucose, uric acid and cholesterol in saliva, demonstrating high correlation with standard ELISA results in a small clinical cohort. The authors suggest this platform offers a scalable solution for decentralised diabetes management by balancing sensitivity with affordability.

Nanostructured zinc-coordination supraparticles on cellulose fibers: A 3D-Printed μ-FAD integrated smartphone platform for multiplexed salivary metabolic monitoring — Yang et al., Biosensors & bioelectronics (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• economics
• metabolome
• self-collection
• liquid
• validation
• saliva

The study determined that an at-home saliva collection protocol using the passive drool method was feasible for Black women with histories of abuse, with 84% of participants completing at least one full day of adherent sampling. While the decentralised approach yielded usable cortisol data, women with histories of forced sex exposure showed lower protocol adherence scores.

Repeat At-Home Saliva Collection to Measure Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR): Protocol Feasibility Study Among Black Women With Histories of Abuse — Tsuyuki et al., Interactive journal of medical research (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• acceptability
• cortisol
• self-collection
• liquid
• saliva