Murthy et al showed that 9.2% of patients enrolled on NCI funded clinical trials between 1996 and 2002 were African American (AA) while census estimates suggest that more than 14% of the US population self-identify as AA. Clearly this minority group is underrepresented in NCI sponsored cancer research studies. Much thought has been given to why this disparity exists and how it can be overcome. Patient, physician, and protocol related barriers can inhibit individuals from choosing a cancer clinical trial option. Multiple validated tools exist to assess quality of life (QOL) that range from the simple Uniscale that assesses global QOL along a line with 10 subdivisions to multipage forms with hundreds of individual questions. QOL is frequently assessed at the time of trial entry and at prescribed points during the patient's time on many studies. Baseline assessments can provide insight into disparities among the subpopulations that enter trials. Understanding the QOL issues that handicap or prevent patients from enrolling in studies are incompletely captured by queries that poll only enrolled patients. It is clear that issues such as performance score, social support, economic status, transportation barriers, comorbidities, familial attitudes, baseline QOL and potential toxicities influence whether an individual agrees to be in a clinical trial. Those factors may be distinctly different in their frequencies among AAs versus other populations. Emerging data also suggest the potential for pharmacogenetic variability among populations that influence drug related toxicities and correlate with race. Study designers cognizant of these issues can minimize barriers to accrual and maximize the value of studies for minority as well as majority populations.

Citation Format: Richard M. Goldberg. Inclusion of African Americans in cancer clinical trials: Potential quality of life, comorbidity, and pharmacogenetic-related barriers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PL02-01. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-PL02-01

©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.
2014