14 Mar Race, ethnicity reporting in pediatric clinical trials has improved, finds study

By Elana Gotkine, Medical Xpress

Ryan C.L. Brewster, M.D., from Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study of U.S.-based clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov that enrolled participants aged younger than 18 years between October 2007 and March 2020 to examine race and ethnicity reporting and representation in pediatric clinical trials.

The researchers found that among 1,183 trials, including 405,376 participants, there was a significant increase in race and ethnicity reporting from 27 to 87 percent in 2007 to 2018. The median proportional enrollment of Asian American, American Indian, Black, Hispanic, and White children was 0.6, 0.0, 12.0, 7.1, and 66.4 percent, respectively.

Relative to U.S. population demographics, Asian American, Black, and Hispanic participants were underrepresented. Asian American and Hispanic participants were most consistently underrepresented across diagnoses compared with expected proportions based on disease prevalence and hospitalizations. Read more …