Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between transportation assistance and study visits, and explore differences by transportation modality.
Study design: This was a secondary analysis of prospective cohort study. We identified patients requesting transportation support for research ultrasound visits and identified controls (1:2 ratio) who did not request support matched for age, race, and insurance type. Conditional logistic regression examined the association between transportation support and mode of transportation with study visit attendance.
Results: Transportation support was requested by 57/1,184 (4.8%) participants. Participants that requested transportation support were three times more likely to attend visits than their matched controls (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.16, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.76-5.68). Among visits with transportation support, those supported by a ridesharing service had five-fold higher odds of attendance than visits supported with taxi service (aOR = 5.06, 95% CI: 1.50-16.98).
Conclusion: Transportation support, especially a ridesharing service, is associated with improved attendance at research study visits in a sample of predominantly low-income, Black, pregnant participants. Implementing transportation support may be a promising strategy to improve engagement in research studies.
Key points: · Participants utilizing transportation assistance were more likely to attend study appointments.. · Participants using ridesharing had higher likelihood of attendance than those using taxi service.. · Transportation assistance may improve research engagement for historically marginalized people..
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