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Abstract
Purpose: To study whether the difference in the demographic characteristics of participants and non-participants could result in biased prevalence estimates and associations. Aim: To compare the non-participant & participant characteristics, and to ascertain if non-response bias is present in the rural population of the Chennai Glaucoma Study (CGS). Methods: Rural participants and non-participants were compared with regard to socio-demographic variables (age, gender, religion, mother tongue, literacy and employment). Results: 4800 subjects aged 40 years or over were enumerated, 82% (3934: 45% male and 55% female) responded. Gender did not influence participation (adjusted OR–1.11, CI: .91–1.36). Subjects in the 70–79 year age group were more likely to respond (OR–1.76; CI–1.31–2.38). Hindus had a higher participation rate than Christians or Muslims (adjusted OR–2.63, CI: 1.80–3.84). The other predictors of participation were illiteracy (adjusted OR–1.44, CI: 1.22–1.70), unemployment (OR–1.28, CI: 1.04–1.58), place of residence (main villages) (OR–1.89, 95% CI: 1.59–2.25) and cottage industry-based villages (OR–6.66, 95% CI: 4.6–9.64). Conclusion: Based on our study findings, it does not seem likely that participation bias will affect the study results.