An analysis of 59 prostate cancer clinical trials based in North America and Europe found that the vast majority of enrollees were white men. The proportion of white participants in prostate cancer clinical trials has largely remained above 80 percent since 1990, while the proportion of black or African American men in these trials decreased from 11.3 percent in 1995 to 2.8 percent in 2014.
“In the United States, less than 60 percent of prostate cancer cases occur in non-Hispanic white men, and roughly 22 percent of cases occur in non-Hispanic black men,” said Emily Rencsok of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and lead author of the study. “However, when we analyzed the diversity of enrollment in nearly 60 prostate cancer clinical trials, we found that over 96 percent of participants were white.
“It’s important to acknowledge the extent of underrepresentation of minority men in prostate cancer clinical trials so that we can find better ways to support their enrollment in future trials,” Rencsok added. “Black men have a disproportionate burden of prostate cancer incidence and mortality compared with white men, and the increased enrollment of black men in prostate cancer clinical trials will help us to learn more about these racial disparities, which could ultimately lead to improved treatment options for this patient population.”
- See “Men of Color Remain Underrepresented in Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials” by the American Association for Cancer Research on the Cancer Health website (June 8, 2020)
- See the abstract of the scientific paper “Diversity of Enrollment in Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials: Current Status and Future Directions” by Emily M. Rencsok et al.
