Table 1 Recruitment and trial characteristics extracted from included stroke rehabilitation RCTs

Recruitment characteristics

Number of patients screened for trial participation

Used to generate randomisation rate outcome

Number of patients randomised into the trial

Used to generate randomisation rate, recruitment rate and dropout outcomes

Number of patients who drop out

Used to generate dropout outcome

Number of sites used for recruitment

Used to generate recruitment rate outcome

Continent of recruitment

Recruitment has been shown to differ between countries [1, 2]

Recruitment strategy

The recruitment strategies/methods adopted by trials may affect recruitment efficiency [3]

Profession of the recruiter

The profession of the recruiter may play a role in willingness of patients to take part in trials [2, 4]. Some professions have been described as ‘gatekeeping’ during the recruitment process [5]

Number of recruiters per site

The number of people responsible for recruitment may reduce recruitment efficiency [6,7,8,9]

Trial characteristics

Publication date

There is evidence to suggest recruitment of stroke survivors for clinical trials is becoming less efficient [10, 11]

Type of intervention

The treatments on offer can be a motivating factor for potential participants [12, 13]

Targeted impairment

Control condition

Stroke survivor residence

Recruitment from a community setting may lead to more efficient recruitment to RCTs [11]. Recruitment of acute stroke survivors within a hospital setting has been highlighted as a problematic recruitment area [10, 11]

Stage of rehabilitation

Funding support

There are potential issues of bias when certain funding bodies are used [14]. Trialists may be influenced by institution pressures to secure funding [15]

Ethics approval

Trialists are concerned by the impact of research governance on the recruitment process [15, 16]