Blacks are underrepresented in cancer studies
Across Maryland, minorities and residents of rural areas are under-represented in cancer trials, according to a new study from University of Maryland researchers. And the study found that rates of participation among African Americans are dropping, reflecting a nationwide trend. “Everyone should have an equal chance of participating in a trial. That does not happen,” said Shiraz I. Mishra, an associate professor at the School of Medicine and one of the study’s authors. It’s no secret that some drugs respond better in certain racial groups. Such is the case with some new types of heart disease drugs, researchers have found. However, without minority participation in medical trials, there is no guarantee that new medicines and therapies being developed to treat cancer will work with Blacks or other ethnic groups, researchers say. The Maryland study, which appears in the current Journal of Clinical Oncology, made its findings after looking at 2,240 Maryland cancer patients enrolled in National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trials from 1999 to 2002 What they found is that cancer patient participation from rural counties was underrepresented. Participation from counties heavily populated by African Americans, such as Baltimore City and Prince George’s County, was also lower than the researchers anticipated. African-American patients have less access to care overall and so are less likely to end up in a study. Over the course of the study, participation among African Americans decreased from 24 percent to 18 percent of the cancer trial patients in Maryland. One reason may be that many cancer trials exclude patients with diseases other than cancer. Baquet said African Americans are more likely than Whites to have multiple ailments, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

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