%0 Journal Article %A R Baker %A C Shiels %A K Stevenson %A R Fraser %A M Stone %T What proportion of patients refuse consent to data collection from their records for research purposes? %D 2000 %J British Journal of General Practice %P 655-656 %V 50 %N 457 %X In a randomised trial of the implementation of guidelines for asthma and angina, we sent questionnaires that included a request for consent to collect data from the patient's clinical records to 5069 patients in 81 general practices. Of these 3429 (67.6%) responded, of whom 335 (9.8% [95%, CI = 8.8%-10.8%]) refused consent. We conclude that consent should always be sought unless a research ethics committee has waived this requirement for pressing reasons. %U https://bjgp.org/content/bjgp/50/457/655.full.pdf