The Association between Mode of Transportation Support and Research Study Visit Attendance among Pregnant Patients.

ABSTRACT

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 (12 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..