of minorities in research
Racial minorities participate in health research studies at the same rate as whites when they meet the study criteria and when they are informed about the opportunity to enroll in the study, according to an article by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the School of Medicine.
Published in the Dec. 6 issue of PLoS Medicine, the study debunks the common belief that racial minorities are less willing to participate in research studies, and the authors suggest that minority involvement is linked more to access than attitude.
"It's been known for years that black patients are less likely to enroll in research studies than white patients," says a study author Dr. Cary Gross, associate professor of internal medicine at Yale. "This is a problem because research studies are how we determine which new treatments are effective and which ones shouldn't be used. If the participants in these studies do not reflect the diverse nature of the population, then it won't be clear whether new treatments that may have been promising in the study setting actually work in the real world."
According to lead author Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the Department of Clinical Bioethics at NIH, there is a belief that racial and ethnic minorities are less willing to participate in health research due to a distrust of the research community stemming from past abuses. The most notable is the Tuskegee syphilis study, in which hundreds of poor African-American men in Alabama were followed for decades without being told they had syphilis, promised treatments and prevented from getting penicillin to treat their syphilis.
The NIH-Yale study found that whatever attitudes blacks and other ethnic minorities may have, they are still willing to participate in research when there is an opportunity to do so. The authors say that the main barrier to participation is access, knowledge that these studies exist, eligibility criteria that ensure minorities can participate, and overcoming existing logistical barriers such as the need for child care, the location of the study and reimbursement for travel expenses.
The research team comprehensively searched the medical literature to identify published trials that reported consent rates by race and/or ethnicity. The team identified and reviewed 20 different kinds of studies involving over 70,000 patients. Most were conducted in the United States and most participants from minority groups were African Americans or Hispanics.
The researchers found only small differences in the willingness of minorities to participate compared to non-Hispanic whites. But the researchers found big differences when it came to who was asked to participate. In 7 of the 17 clinical and surgical intervention studies, enrollment was offered to relatively few people in minority groups.
This study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Yale School of Medicine. In addition to Gross and Emanuel, authors included David Wendler, Raynard Kington, Jennifer Madans, Gretchen Van Wye, Heidi Christ-Schmidt, Laura A. Pratt and Otis W. Brawley.
-- By Karen Peart
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Team finds genes that control aging
Q&A with President Richard C. Levin
Yale will study ways to promote tolerance via 'Difficult Dialogues' grant
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPSRecent alumna wins award for her Ph.D. dissertation
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS
Sequencing genome of bacteria that lives off fly may lead to . . .
Researchers' discovery about the role of particular cells may alter . . .
Study finds access is key to participation of minorities in research
Rate of chronic disability in older Americans is over-estimated . . .
New tool can help measure parents' role in child's pre-surgery anxietyMozart's 250th birthday bash begins Jan. 27
Recluse gets swept up in counter-terrorism
'Bread Upon the Waters' shows 'generosity' of Christian art
Tragic tale of 'The Duchess of Malfi' to unfold at Drama School
Conference examines the art of biography . . .
Two Yale scientists elected to American Physical Society
Spring architecture programs include talks by top designers
Campus Notes
Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News
Bulletin Board|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines
Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs|News Releases|
E-Mail Us|Yale Home