HONOLULU – Racial disparities in phase 1 gynecologic oncology clinical trial enrollment is nothing new, but the gap between African American and Caucasian enrollment widened in recent years, according to a review of studies conducted since 1985.
Elias Awad
The literature review identified 357 relevant phase 1 studies involving 9,492 patients published between 1985 and 2018. However, only 83 of the studies (23%) included a racial breakdown; of the 2,483 patients in those 83 trials, 79% were Caucasian, 5% were African American, and 16% were of “other” race, Elias Awad reported at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer.
Ovarian cancer was the most common tumor type studied, but among studies listing a racial breakdown, endometrial cancer studies had the highest enrollment of African American patients at 12%, said Mr. Awad, a 4th-year medical student at the University of South Alabama, Mobile. The remaining studies all had less than 10% participation of black patients.
“Also of note is that other races exceeded black patients in 55% of trials across all tumor types,” he said. “Despite the focus on increasing diversity in clinical trials over the years, the percentage of black patients has declined 1.8-fold from 11% in 1995-1999 to 6% in 2015-2018.”
Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention age-adjusted incidence for race, expected and observed ratios of racial participation were calculated – and were found to be less than expected for each tumor site, Mr. Awad said.
For example, the enrollment ratio in ovarian cancer studies was 0.04:1 for black and white patients, respectively, while the ratios for endometrial and cervical cancer were 0.004:1 and 0.025:1, respectively.
These ratios represent a 1,750% lower than expected enrollment of black patients in ovarian cancer trials, 2,080% lower than expected enrollment for endometrial cancer trials, and 5,300% lower than expected enrollment for cervical cancer, he said.
This lack of minority participation in early-phase clinical trials likely contributes to cancer health disparities, Mr. Awad added, explaining that the underrepresentation of minorities in trials results in agents that work in majority populations.
“Thus, it is paramount to have therapeutic agents specifically effective in minority populations,” he said. “Considering that phase 1 trials are the entry point for therapeutic success, these results further compound the lack of adequate clinical trials for our black patients who continue to suffer the consequences of these inequities.
“Accordingly, it is time to enact strategies to enhance equity in the enrollment of black patients on clinical trials in order to assist in eliminating racial disparities in gynecologic malignancies,” he concluded.
Mr. Awad reported having no financial disclosures.
SOURCE: Awad E et al. SGO 2019, Abstract 22.