Sleep patient recruitment fails more studies than any other operational risk. Sleep disorders are prevalent but under-diagnosed, self-identified patients often screen-fail on PSG, and rare-disease indications like narcolepsy demand curated site networks. This playbook covers what actually works.
Indication-specific channels
OSA
- Primary-care referrals with STOP-BANG pre-screen.
- Bariatric, cardiology, and endocrinology clinic partnerships (high OSA prevalence).
- Digital funnels routing self-identified snorers through validated HSAT before enrollment.
Insomnia
- ISI-based digital pre-screening to filter chronic vs. transient insomnia.
- Two-stage PSG screening to exclude comorbid OSA/PLMS.
- CBT-I waitlists at academic sleep centers.
Narcolepsy and IH
- Curated network of 25-40 high-enrolling academic sleep centers.
- Patient advocacy partnerships (Project Sleep, Hypersomnia Foundation).
- HLA DQB1*06:02 pre-typing via partner labs to enrich for NT1.
Why generalist recruitment vendors underperform in sleep
Broad digital campaigns produce huge top-of-funnel volume but low PSG-confirmed conversion. Sleep-native recruitment stacks specialty sites, indication-specific pre-screens, and PSG/HSAT verification into one funnel — then holds a single accountable partner responsible for randomized-patient yield rather than click volume.
Decentralized recruitment
Decentralized designs dramatically expand the recruitable geography. Instead of "within 45 minutes of an academic sleep lab," eligibility becomes nationwide, with HSAT shipped to the participant's door. See our sleep research CRO overview for how we combine site-based and decentralized recruitment on a single study.