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Warning: I'm feeling ridiculously down about this. I know it's silly to be disappointed, but I am.
I was contacted by the university where I had my surgery recently to participate in a heart health study. The object was to lose a modest amount of weight, 15-20 lbs, and measure the effect on heart health. 1/2 of the participants would be enrolled randomly in a new weight loss program emphasizing healthy physical activity before the weight loss, the other half would be enrolled in Weight Watchers.
According to their published guidelines I was a perfect fit. So I spent 20 minutes doing their online questionnaire. When I came to the question about "Have you ever been diagnosed with moderate to severe asthma or COPD?", I paused. On my EMR my asthma is coded as Moderate Persistent, but in reality it is fully controlled. It's also not exercise-induced, so that wouldn't affect their study. I ticked that box Yes, but if I could have spoken with a human I would have said No and told them why.
It was the only question I answered Yes to, so I'm certain that triggered a rejection.
I guess I'm down about it because they were asking for an enormous time commitment over a 12 month period. I had given it a lot of thought and decided the time suck was worth it in terms of possibly meeting new people and getting healthier.
You could NOT have answered no, you HAVE been diagnosed and do currently have it!
Well, no, I don't have "moderate to severe persistent asthma". It's just been coded by my doctors as "moderate persistent asthma" for insurance purposes.
If you saw my EMR, you would think I'm the sickest person on the planet. Probably about to die in a few days.
But here's how "moderate persistent asthma" is generally defined:
-Asthma symptoms every day
-Use of the rescue inhaler every day
-Has activity levels affected by flare-ups
-Night time symptoms happen more than once a week
None of that applies to me. In a bad year I may end up in urgent care twice, they give me prednisone and that's that.
I could have explained all this in 30 seconds to a real human. It could be verified by looking beyond the coded designation.
I have been in a heart study. It's was absolutely awful & boringgggggg. LOL. Even those who fit the criteria to a tee are denied. It's more of a "luck of the draw" thing.
Well, no, I don't have "moderate to severe persistent asthma". It's just been coded by my doctors as "moderate persistent asthma" for insurance purposes.
If you saw my EMR, you would think I'm the sickest person on the planet. Probably about to die in a few days.
But here's how "moderate persistent asthma" is generally defined:
-Asthma symptoms every day
-Use of the rescue inhaler every day
-Has activity levels affected by flare-ups
-Night time symptoms happen more than once a week
None of that applies to me. In a bad year I may end up in urgent care twice, they give me prednisone and that's that.
I could have explained all this in 30 seconds to a real human. It could be verified by looking beyond the coded designation.
Even if you checked the "no" box on the questionnaire, that still doesn't mean you'd qualify for the study. Generally in studies like this, people who appear to qualify based on the questionnaire are asked to come in for an interview and a physical exam. This is the "talk to a live human" part you were looking for.
Your asthma condition would most likely have become apparent at this point, and I'm guessing you wouldn't have been permitted to continue with the study. Studies like this have very, very tight parameters, and they can't deviate from them or they risk invalidating the entire study, jeopardizing their funding, etc.
I understand your disappointment, but I would imagine it could have been any number of things that went towards the rejection.
Maybe they got enough people before you, maybe they needed more "X" (different gender, race, etc.), or other criteria.
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