An examination of the influence of patient race and ethnicity on expressed interest in learning about cancer clinical trials.
OBJECTIVE
A number of factors have been identified as being associated with the documented low accrual rate of minorities into cancer-related clinical trials in the USA. An important issue is the fundamental interest, or lack thereof, of these specific patient populations in actually considering study participation.


METHODS
To examine this issue, aggregate data were analyzed from a proprietary Internet-based decision support program (NexProfiler Treatment Option Tools for Cancer, NexCura, Seattle, WA, USA) embedded into approximately 100 cancer-associated Web sites where responding patients (or their families) were asked, but not required, to identify their race/ethnicity (African-American, Asian-American, Caucasian and Hispanic) and to also respond to the question, "Are you interested in learning about clinical trials?".


RESULTS
Of the > 60,000 patients who both self-identified their race/ethnicity and responded to the question regarding their desire to learn about clinical trials, approximately 10% were from the minority (non-Caucasian) groups. Of note, in all four malignancies analyzed (breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate) and in both patients < or = 60 and > 60 years of age, each of the three non-Caucasian populations expressed an interest in learning about such studies that was equal to, if not greater than, that observed in the Caucasian respondents.


CONCLUSIONS
Assuming these provocative results regarding self-declared desire to learn about clinical trials can be confirmed by others with similar Internet-associated databases, this analysis suggests Web-based recruitment strategies may be an effective method to communicate with minority populations in the US (and, perhaps, elsewhere) with a specific interest in considering participation in cancer clinical trials.
Markman
Maurie
M
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Mail Box #121, Houston, TX 77030, USA. mmarkman@mdanderson.org
Petersen
Judy
J
Montgomery
Robert
R
D001741:Black or African American; D001213:Asian; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D010358:Patient Participation; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D044469:Racial Groups; D044465:White People