Cancer Clinical Trials – minorities and the elderly missing in action

An article in the November 2011 issue of CancerDiscovery, the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, defines the problems and outlines strategies for recruiting minority groups and seniors for Clinical Trials.

Although about one third of the US population belongs to a minority group, this group accounts for less than 1 percent of adults enrolled in clinical trials. And, while nearly half of those diagnosed with cancer and 65 or older, seniors make up only 25% of clinical trial participants.

Minority groups and the elderly are at higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer than the population as a whole. So when there is low participation in trials from any group of cancer patients, the trial results may not be as applicable to those groups. And the low participation can also delay final approval of beneficial drugs. In order for us to know how to best treat all Americans with cancer, we need all Americans to be represented in clinical trials.

Several groups are now focusing on providing basic clinical trial education using DVDs to these groups—in several languages when appropriate.

Another direction is to provide additional training to nurses and doctors to help them better understand the issues in recruiting and the possibilities of participation in clinical trials for their patients.

And in some locations patient ‘navigators’ are being trained to provide one on one information, answer questions, and help potential participants fill out application materials.