title: Willingness to participate in clinical trials among African Americans and whites previously exposed to clinical research.
abstract: The objective of this study was to identify racial differences in willingness to participate in a population with previous exposure to clinical research. A survey instrument was administered to community-dwelling whites and African Americans who were voluntarily receiving a lay research and health education newsletter from a local Boston geriatric clinical research institution. The survey instrument assessed willingness to participate in 3 hypothetical clinical trials (diet trial for obesity, medication trial for hypertension [HTN], chemotherapy trial for cancer). Surveys were received from 473 whites and 279 African Americans (53% response rate) with mean age 74 (SD +/- 9). In multivariate models, race was not significantly related to willingness to participate in the multivariate models for any of the 3 trials. Previous trial participation was related to a higher odds of willingness to participate in the diet trial only (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2, 2.6). Lower levels of trust in one's primary care physician were associated with a lower odds of willingness to participate in clinical trials for the diet and HTN trials (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3, 0.8 and OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.3, 0.9, respectively). These findings suggest that, within populations previously exposed to clinical research, African Americans are no less willing to participate in clinical trials compared to whites.
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. rdurant@dopm.uab.edu
authors.forename: Raegan W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Durant
authors.forename: Anna T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Legedza
authors.forename: Edward R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Marcantonio
authors.forename: Marcie B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Landon
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D035843:Biomedical Research; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018579:Patient Selection; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data