Predicting panel attrition in longitudinal HRQoL surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US

Abstract

Background Online longitudinal surveys may be subject to potential biases due to sample attrition. This study was designed to identify potential predictors of attrition using a longitudinal panel survey collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Three waves of data were collected using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an online crowd-sourced platform. For each wave, the study sample was collected by referencing a US national representative sample distribution of age, gender, and race, based on US census data. Variables included respondents’ demographics, medical history, socioeconomic status, COVID-19 experience, changes of health behavior, productivity, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Results were compared to pre-pandemic US norms. Measures that predicted attrition at different times of the pandemic were identified via logistic regression with stepwise selection. Results 1467 of 2734 wave 1 respondents participated in wave 2 and, 964 of 2454 wave 2 respondents participated in wave 3. Younger age group, Hispanic origin (p ≤ 0.001) and higher self-rated survey difficulty (p ≤ 0.002) consistently predicted attrition in the following wave. COVID-19 experience, employment, productivity, and limited physical activities were commonly observed variables correlated with attrition with specific measures varying by time periods. From wave 1, mental health conditions, average daily hours worked (p = 0.004), and COVID-19 impact on work productivity (p < 0.001) were associated with a higher attrition rate at wave 2, additional to the aforementioned factors. From wave 2, support of social distancing (p = 0.032), being Republican (p < 0.001), and having just enough money to make ends meet (p = 0.003) were associated with predicted attrition at wave 3. Conclusions Attrition in this longitudinal panel survey was not random. Besides commonly identified demographic factors that contribute to panel attrition, COVID-19 presented novel opportunities to address sample biases by correlating attrition with additional behavioral and HRQoL factors in a constantly evolving environment. While age, ethnicity, and survey difficulty consistently predicted attrition, other factors, such as COVID-19 experience, changes of employment, productivity, physical health, mental health, and financial situation impacted panel attrition during the pandemic at various degrees.

A longitudinal study of how women's prenatal and postnatal concerns related to the COVID‐19 pandemic predicts their infants' social–emotional development

“…Therefore, it is unclear how our results may generalize to the U.S. birthing population and infants. We also experienced substantial attrition across our survey waves, consistent with other online studies (Yu et al, 2022). However, we detected significant risks for infants in this sample, suggesting an urgent need for studies in populations with less resource access and those facing higher risks for developmental delays.…”

“…Complete longitudinal data were, therefore, available for 220 participants. This large rate of attrition was unfortunately common among online surveys during the COVID‐19 pandemic and factors such as changes in employment or increased work hours as lockdowns lifted may be associated with increased odds of attrition (Yu et al, 2022). In this analytic sample, 87% of participants self‐identified as white, 6% as Hispanic/Latino, 1% as Black, 3% as Asian, and 1% as American Indian.…”

Policy entrepreneurs and individuals: Influence and behavior in pandemic response

“…Given the panel structure of our survey, we ran a missingness analysis to investigate patterns associated with respondent attrition across time. As expected, (Yu, Chen, Ning Yan, Hay, & Gong, 2022) missing data in Wave 3 largely broke across demographic lines and we observed a drop in the number of respondents who were male, below the age of 35, identified as a Black, Hispanic, or Multi‐racial or Other (Asian and Caucasian respondents had less drop‐off), and had no high school degree.…”

Cohort profile: recruitment and retention in a prospective cohort of Canadian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The attrition rate (11%) in the study reported here is lower than other population-based studies of HCWs during the pandemic, which range from 45% 17 and 57% 18 to 68%-69% 19 20 over shorter periods of follow-up. Low attrition rates over multiple contacts are rare in community-based studies, although de Graaf et al 21 achieved a 20% attrition rate in the first follow-up in a prospective psychiatric epidemiological study.…”