Baseline participation in a health examination survey of the population 65 years and older: who is missed and why?

Table 4 Detailed Reasons for Baseline Non-participation Stated in 2009 or 2010^a by Non-participants (n = 786)

	Rank order total	Rank order 2009	Rank order 2010	Total	NP+	NP-	NR
	(n = 786)	(n = 603)	(n = 183)	(n = 786)	(n = 298)	(n = 305)	(n = 183)
Detailed reasons (multiple reasons permitted) - %
Refusal to participate in scientific studies on principle	1	1	2	42.1	37.2	53.4	31.1
Too ill	2	2	2	31.4	38.3	24.9	31.1
No interest in this study	3	3	1	25.8	16.1	25.9	41.5
No time^b	4	4	4	12.5	18.1	7.5	11.5
Limited knowledge of German^b	5	5	5	4.6	0.7	5.9	8.7
Dementia	6	11	6	3.1	3.4	1.0	6.0
Miscellaneous^b	7	7	9	2.7	2.3	3.9	1.1
Too old^b	7	7	9	2.7	4.0	2.3	1.1
Participation too strenuous^b	9	5	-	2.5	4.7	2.0	0.0
Family member too ill/ in need of care^b	10	10	13	1.9	3.7	1.0	0.5
Hospital stay	10	9	-	1.9	2.3	2.6	0.0
Hearing/visual impairment	12	12	9	1.7	2.0	1.6	1.1
Personal reasons (not otherwise specified)^b	13	13	-	1.1	1.7	1.3	0.0
Having sufficient medical care^b	13	13	-	1.1	2.7	0.3	0.0
Having no personal benefit^b	15	15	-	1.0	0.7	2.0	0.0
Too healthy	16	16	-	0.9	2.0	0.3	0.0
Death of a family member^b	16	16	-	0.9	1.3	1.0	0.0
Speech disorder	16	19	9	0.9	1.0	0.7	1.1
Being in residential care in 2009	16	25	7	0.9	0.0	0.3	3.3
Too busy^b	20	18	-	0.8	1.3	0.7	0.0
Being absent during recruitment period^b	21	-	8	0.6	0.0	0.0	2.7
Participating in another scientific study^b	22	20	13	0.5	0.3	0.7	0.5
Being in rehabilitation	23	20	-	0.4	0.7	0.3	0.0
Being unmotivated^b	23	20	-	0.4	0.7	0.3	0.0
Bad experiences with scientific studies^b	23	20	-	0.4	0.0	1.0	0.0
Having concerns about the study’s risks^b	26	24	-	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.0

Abbreviations: NP + = non-participants with short questionnaire, i.e., individuals who declined study participation but completed the short questionnaire; NP- = non-participants without the short questionnaire, i.e., individuals who declined study participation and completing the short questionnaire; NR = non-respondents, i.e., individuals who could not be reached during the recruitment period and who did not actively decline study participation
^aReasons for non-participation stated during the 2009 recruitment period. In 2010, non-respondents were given an opportunity to report retrospectively a reason of non-participation
^bThese reasons were summarized as “other” if there was no indication of being too healthy or ill

ISSN: 1471-2318