What Do We Want? Increased Hispanic Accrual on Cancer Clinical Trials! When Do We Want It? Now!
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Abstract
The Hispanic population is one of the fastest growing ethnicities in the United States. Cancer is leading cause of death in this demographic group and have up to 50% higher cancer mortality rates compared to the non-Hispanic white population in the United States. Hispanics face numerous cancer health disparities, including poverty, obesity, and access to health care and insurance. In our previous study, we noted a poor Hispanic accrual rate of 3.9% in all phase II and III cancer clinical trials published in the United States in 2012 and argued for better representation. To assess if a change was made seven years later, we reexamined the clinical trials published in the United States in 2019. We found 48 cancer clinical trials meeting our inclusion criteria. Only 23 (48%) reported information regarding minority accrual. Of these, 8 (17% of all) reported Hispanic accrual. Altogether, of the 2559 patients reported in the 8 clinical trials, 104 (4.1%) were of Hispanic ethnicity, which nearly matches the 3.9% that we reported in 2014. In this manuscript, we highlight the disproportionately low rates of Hispanic accrual in cancer clinical trials and propose processes that will increase representation.