Published in JAMA Dermatology, this systematic review revealed that while the reporting of racial and ethnic data has increased in recent years, inclusion of minority groups has remained unchanged, with the researchers calling for additional efforts to support diversity.

“Notable efforts to support diversity in [randomized clinical trials] have been made by the US Food and Drug Administration, including an action plan in 2014 to support industry efforts at improving diversity in clinical trials and publishing concise information about who participated in clinical trials,” wrote the researchers. “However, limited data are available to assess whether these efforts have been associated with increased diversity in dermatology research cohorts with respect to sex and race and ethnicity.”

Collecting data from nearly 400 randomized controlled dermatology trials between 2015 and 2020, the researchers compared diversity findings against those from 2010 to 2015, which were documented by Charrow et al and showed low levels of reporting for race, ethnicity data, and Hispanic representation. Read more …