Recruitment Strategies

Eligible women may be less likely to consent, and participation may decline with age in both sexes. AF-related studies should plan for more clinical exclusions among men because of higher AF prevalence, more cardiac implantable devices, and more recent cardiac events or interventions. Recruitment strategies should be tailored to demographic barriers instead of relying on uniform procedures. Future cardiovascular screening studies should account for sex-dependent and age-dependent differences at the design stage. Possible design considerations include sex-age quotas, screening-log monitoring, early identification of slow-enrolling subgroups, lower visit burden, mobility support, and systematic collection of non-participation reasons.