Altruism, better health drive patients to trials
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The opportunity to help others and the possibility of improved health are two of the factors that motivate rheumatoid arthritis patients to participate in clinical trials, new research shows.
“Consideration of these factors may facilitate the inclusion of more diverse patient populations into trials and enhance the applicability of trial results,” senior author Dr. Arthur Kavanaugh and colleagues, from the University of California at San Diego, note in the Journal of Rheumatology.
The researchers surveyed 191 arthritis patients about the factors that influenced their decision to take part in studies and trials.
The average patient was 40.5 years of age and 88 percent of the subjects were women. Fifty-seven percent of the patients were Hispanic, 25 percent Caucasian, 12 percent Asian, and 6 percent African American. Seventy-one percent of participants had an annual family income of less than $20,000.
The opportunity to help others was the most important factor in deciding to participate in a trial, the report indicates. Other factors that influenced the decision included the possibility of improved health, early access to new therapy, the availability of free treatments, unknown side effects of the trial drug, and the need to stop current therapy.
The decision-making factors for Hispanics were similar to those of Caucasians, but a related editorial points out some differences.
Caucasians cited unknown drug side effects and having to stop current therapy as being potential downsides of trial participation, whereas Hispanics identified no negative factors, Cheryl L. Koehn, president of the Arthritis Consumer Experts in Vancouver, Canada, noted.
She added that currently there is a shortage of Hispanics and African Americans in arthritis clinical trials. “Until we research the best ways to communicate information about arthritis clinical trials to (these groups), it is unlikely that their participation will increase to levels such that the results from these trials will be generalizable in these growing populations.”
SOURCE: Journal of Rheumatology, December 2005.
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