Impact of the Wessex AsThma CoHort (WATCH) study on recruitment to research

WATCH is a longitudinal observational study of patients under the Difficult Asthma Clinic at University Hospital Southampton (UHS), UK. Enhanced asthma phenotyping in the study helps improve patient care, as well as identifying patients suitable for research. These patients may otherwise be missed due to divide between clinical and research goals. One objective was to measure the impact of large outpatient cohort recruitment on patient enrolment rates in asthma research. Method: Adult Severe asthmatics (British Thoracic Society (BTS) step 4 or 5) were recruited from the Difficult Asthma clinic at UHS. Monthly recruitment numbers are shown for adult severe asthmatics PreWATCH (Jun 2014-Dec 2014) and PostWATCH (Jun 2015-Dec 2015). Results: Total number of patients recruited PreWATCH was 21. Total number of patients recruited in PostWATCH group was 201. This includes patients recruited to WATCH itself (n=161) but also those recruited to non-WATCH adult severe asthma studies (n=40). Percentage improvement in recruitment PostWATCH was 47.5%. Overall improvement in recruitment (including WATCH) was 111.67%. Conclusion: Preliminary analysis suggests improvement to overall recruitment following commencement of WATCH. Further planned analysis will include qualitative questionnaires, and will hopefully show both positive impact on recruitment rates, as well as improvements to patient care and clinic/research experience.