MONDAY, Dec. 12, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Race and gender affect enrollment in lung cancer clinical trials in the United States, according to a study that found that women and blacks were least likely to take part in such trials.
The Wayne State University study of 427 lung cancer patients in Detroit also identified a need to improve educational and outreach programs to attract a wider range of patients to treatment trials for lung cancer.
The researchers reviewed data from 175 black lung cancer patients and 252 lung cancer patients from other races who were eligible for clinical trials at the Karmanos Cancer Institute between 1994 and 1998. Of this group, 91 patients (21 percent) took part in a lung cancer treatment trial.
Patients who did not take part in any trial were more likely to be black (45 percent versus 25 percent of enrollees), female (43 percent versus 32 percent of enrollees), and over age 70 (24 percent versus 10 percent of enrollees).
The findings appear in the Jan. 15, 2006 issue of the journal Cancer.
The study focused on enrollment at a single medical center and did not examine other factors that could influence clinical trial participation, so the findings should be viewed with caution, the researchers note. Those other factors include religious beliefs, lack of trust in the medical establishment, and lack of knowledge about clinical trials.
"New recruitment strategies targeting specific patient subgroups might be helpful in ensuring equal representation of women and minority groups in cancer clinical trials," the study authors conclude.
More information
The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about clinical trials.
