Four out of five participants in cancer clinical trials are white, a discrepancy that calls into question whether other races and ethnicities are receiving good cancer treatment, researchers say.
Women and the elderly also are underrepresented in clinical trials, according to the new findings.
Prior studies have shown that the effectiveness of cancer treatment can vary based on a person’s race, gender and age, said lead researcher Dr. Narjust Duma.
Despite this, clinical trials have failed to successfully recruit a diverse patient population upon whom to test new drugs and therapies, said Duma, a hematology/oncology fellow at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn.
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