The effect of education on patients' willingness to participate in a telemedicine study

We assessed the effect of previous education on patients' willingness to participate in a clinical study of telemedicine for hypertensive patients. The design was a cross-sectional study of adult patients arriving for appointments in a hypertension clinic. Of the 259 patients approached, 86% completed a baseline survey and were subsequently asked if they would be willing to participate in a one-year telemedicine study. One hundred and fifty patients (58%) agreed to participate. A stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of level of education on willingness to participate, while controlling for potentially confounding variables. In the final model, only education remained significant. The odds ratio for non-participation of patients with high-school education or less was 3.6 (95% confidence interval 1.9-7.0). Educational status should be carefully considered when designing, implementing and interpreting telemedicine studies.