RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The unspoken benefit of participation in a clinical trial JF Clinical Medicine JO Clin Med FD Royal College of Physicians SP e645 OP e647 DO 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0292 VO 21 IS 6 A1 Konstantin Schwarz A1 Sathish Parasuraman A1 Satnam Singh A1 John D Horowitz A1 Dana K Dawson A1 Michael P Frenneaux YR 2021 UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/6/e645.abstract AB Background Publicly funded trials do not usually offer financial incentives to volunteers. An intensive level of medical care could act as an additional motivator for participation. Our aim was to establish whether patients may draw any clinical benefit from volunteering in a clinical trial.Methods We analysed the recruitment process of a phase II randomised controlled trial, the Inorganic Nitrate in Angina Study.Results Two-hundred and thirteen patients with a history of stable angina and who had been under at least annual primary care review were screened for participation by history taking, examination, 12-lead electrocardiography, treadmill test and echocardiography. Thirty-five (16.4%) patients were found to have significant unstable or new clinical pathology, requiring urgent clinical attention. We identified 17 (7.9%) patients with unstable angina. Furthermore, we found new undiagnosed pathologies: amyloidosis in two (0.9%), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in two (0.9%), left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction <45%) in three (1.4%), left ventricular thrombus in one (0.4%), significant valvular disease in five (2.4%) and arrhythmias in six (2.8%).Conclusion Compared with routine care, patients screened for a clinical trial may come under an increased level of scrutiny that may affect their clinical management. This may act as additional motivator to attract patients to future studies.