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Recruiting patients for drug trials: a difficult task

Park Royal Centre for Mental Health, Acton Lane, London NW10 7NS

B. Pitt

Academic Department of Old Age Psychiatry, St Charles' Hospital, London W10 6DZ

Sally Armstrong, Research Sister and Anthony O'Brien, Lecturer and Hon. Senior Registrar

Therapeutic Research Unit for the Elderly, Hammersmith Hospital, London

^* Correspondence

In successfully recruiting patients for drug trials in dementia the Therapeutic Research Unit for the Elderly (TRUE) had referrals from various sources. The local Memory Clinic (MC) provided 38 patients for screening of which 31 (81%) were recruited, 75% of the overall number recruited. This number was small (n=41) despite various efforts and does not reflect the time invested and amount of contact work with GPs, out-patient departments and other psychiatric services.

The memory clinic provides a source of recruitment of patients for drug trials as well as services for those who do not qualify for such trials. But recruiting without the aid of a memory clinic is difficult and time-consuming and new approaches must be found.