Abstract PO-071: Defining the current state of minority recruitment into clinical trials: Perspectives of cancer center research staff
Authors: Serrano Mayra , Fernandez Alejandro , Garcia Marisela , Nerio Katty , Kittles Rick 
Published: December 2020

The recruitment of ethnic minorities into clinical trials is a formidable challenge. African-Americans make up 12% of the U.S. population but only 5% of clinical trial participation. There is an even larger disparity in the Latino population. Latinos make up 18% of the U.S. population and only account for 1% of clinical trial participants.

Research efforts to address ethnic minority underrepresentation in research is required for broad population scientific applicability and advancement. For example, nearly 1/5 of new drugs reviewed by the FDA showed racial/ethnic differences in drug disposition and response. Therefore, investigating the barriers of minority participation in research is imperative. Currently, there is a wealth of knowledge on barriers to participation from the patient’s or physician’s perspective. However, there is a dearth of information investigating the barriers to minority participation from perspective of research professionals who conduct the recruitment for studies. Clinical research staff at City of Hope were surveyed to gather information about barriers to the recruitment of minority and underrepresented populations into clinical trials. We developed a pilot survey of 52 questions to be answered by clinical research associates, coordinators and nurses. The pilot survey was distributed via a listserv in the Department of Population Sciences. The survey gathered demographics, types of clinical trials offered and barriers to minority enrollment. A total of 27 research staff completed the survey. The average age of the respondents was 31, most (85%) were female, Latino (52%) and single (56%). Fifteen percent of respondents were not willing to participate in research. The majority (78%) reported experience working with patients from minority and underserved populations, although (52%) said they did not currently target the recruitment of racial and ethnic minorities. The majority (52%) also said they do not target the recruitment of women and vast majority (78%) do not currently target the recruitment of sexual and gender minorities. Of those that reporting targeting the recruitment of minorities, most (100%) target Latinos, African Americans (62%), and Asians (54%). Most (52%) reported that recruitment entails extra work for the physician, 48% reported that language is a barrier to enrolling patients into trials and 33% reported insurance disqualification as a barrier. Findings suggest that even though research staff report working with these targeted populations, there are missed opportunities to accrue them to clinical trials. We plan on building upon this pilot by expanding the survey outside of Population Sciences to include all research staff at City of Hope. This will also include the addition of key informant interviews to further explore how the cancer center infrastructure can help facilitate the recruitment of minorities. This will allow us to examine systemic barriers and facilitators to clinical trial recruitment.

Citation Format: Mayra Serrano, Alejandro Fernandez, Marisela Garcia, Katty Nerio, Rick Kittles. Defining the current state of minority recruitment into clinical trials: Perspectives of cancer center research staff [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-071.