ArticlePLOS digital health2026
Running a clinical trial remotely: Lessons learnt from a decentralised multicentre randomised controlled trial evaluating a digital health intervention for Chronic Kidney Disease.
Article in PLOS digital health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Effectiveness of a New Media Health Education Program in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.Patient preference and adherence · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Decentralised clinical trials (DCTs) are a potentially efficient and cost-effective way of delivering research trials. My Kidneys & Me, a self-management digital health intervention for chronic kidney disease, was evaluated in a multi-centre randomised DCT (SMILE-K) (ISRCTN18314195). This study aims to evaluate recruitment outcomes and research staff experiences of delivering the SMIKE-K DCT, to inform the design of future DCTs. SMILE-K used fully remote trial processes, including online outcome measure collection. Recruitment and retention data were collected, including numbers invited, recruited, and completing outcome measures, and methods of invitation and consent. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively. Following trial recruitment, semi-structured interviews were conducted with research staff at external recruiting sites to explore their perspectives and experiences of remote trial processes. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. 420 participants were recruited to SMILE-K. The median time from expression of interest to consent was 1 day (range:0-100), and from consent to randomisation was 6 days (range:0-197). Thirteen research staff were interviewed. Six themes were identified: 'discordance between perceptions and experiences of recruiting participants', 'reallocation of available resources across research studies', 'more environmentally friendly', 'onus on participants', 'engaging disadvantaged groups of participants', and 'future considerations to improve recruitment'. Results suggest that a DCT design can reach a high number of eligible participants. An invitation flyer via post after a remote clinical appointment was the most successful method of recruitment. Research staff felt DCTs provided opportunities for a diverse and representative population to participate and study procedures were environmentally friendly; however, consideration must be given to the factors that may affect recruitment and participation. Our research highlights a clear disparity between the expected recruitment rate and the reality of recruiting for DCTs, with research staff indicating they faced unanticipated challenges during the process. We outline factors for consideration when designing and delivering DCTs.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.