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Clinical Research

Recruitment and retention of participants with obesity into a longitudinal birth cohort: the Breastfeeding and Early Child Health (BEACH) study

International Journal of Obesity volume 49, pages 93–100 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

The study aimed to evaluate how maternal pre-pregnant body mass index (BMI) impacts participant recruitment and retention.

Methods

Participants were enrolled in a longitudinal study between 30 and 36 weeks of pregnancy as having normal weight (pre-pregnant BMI ≥ 18.5 and <25 kg/m2) or obesity (pre-pregnant BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m2). Recruitment channels included Facebook, email, newspaper, phone calls, radio advertisements, flyers, and word-of-mouth. The stages of recruitment included eligibility, consent, and completion. Pearson’s chi-square tests were used to evaluate the relationship between BMI and enrollment outcomes.

Results

Recruitment yielded 2770 total prospective participants. After screening, 141 individuals were eligible, 83 consented, and 60 completed the study. Facebook was the most successful method for identifying eligible pregnant patients with obesity, while a higher percentage of participants recruited through word-of-mouth and flyers consented to the study. Pre-pregnant BMI was significantly associated with the stage of recruitment completed by the participant (p = 0.04), whereby individuals eligible for the study with obesity were less likely to consent and complete study visits.

Conclusion

We demonstrated that maternal obesity was significantly associated with enrollment outcomes in a longitudinal birth cohort study. This study showed that pre-pregnancy BMI influenced study participation. Therefore, tailored recruitment strategies to enhance the recruitment and enrollment of individuals with obesity in maternal-infant health research may be necessary.

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Fig. 1: CONSORT diagram.
Fig. 2: Recruitment outcomes based on obesity status and recruitment method.

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Data availability

Data used in this study cannot be shared publicly in order to protect participant confidentiality. All requests to review data that may include potential subject and/or patient identifiers will be reviewed by our University’s Privacy Office and Institutional Review Board to ensure adequate protection of subjects. Any dissemination approved by the University will be reviewed by a University honest data broker to ensure appropriate legal and ethical compliance with regulatory agencies. Requests for data should be addressed to DJL at the University of Florida (djlemas@ufl.edu).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the research team for their dedicated recruitment efforts. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases [K01DK115632] and the University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute [UL1TR001427]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views the University of Florida’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute or the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Faith Anne N. Heeren, Michele Himadi, Ke Xu, Magda Francois, Michelle I. Cardel, Yasmine Gillespie, Lewis DeCicco & Dominick J. Lemas

  2. STEM Translational Communication Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Elizabeth Flood-Grady

  3. Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Elizabeth Flood-Grady & Dominick J. Lemas

  4. Department of Health Outcomes Research and Policy, Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

    Matthew Shane Loop

  5. Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Adetola F. Louis-Jacques & Dominick J. Lemas

  6. Center for Research in Perinatal Outcomes, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Adetola F. Louis-Jacques

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Lindsay Thompson

  8. WW International Inc., New York, NY, USA

    Michelle I. Cardel

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  1. Faith Anne N. Heeren
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Contributions

All authors designed research (project conception, development of overall research plan, and study oversight); YG and MH analyzed data and performed statistical analysis; DJL, EFG, YG, FH and KX interpreted data findings; DJL, EFG, YG, and KX drafted the initial manuscript; all authors provided critical revision of the manuscript; DJL and FH had primary responsibility for final content.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dominick J. Lemas.

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Competing interests

FANH reports consulting fees from WW Inc., outside the scope of the submitted work.

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The data for this study were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Florida (IRB201601899).

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Heeren, F.A.N., Himadi, M., Flood-Grady, E. et al. Recruitment and retention of participants with obesity into a longitudinal birth cohort: the Breastfeeding and Early Child Health (BEACH) study. Int J Obes 49, 93–100 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-024-01625-0

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