25 Aug Where are all the Arabs? And how a U.S. Census change could improve clinical trial diversity

By Hadi Danawi, Arab Board for Clinical Research via Clinical Leader

With approximately 500 million Arabs residing in the 22 Arab countries and an estimated 4. million (depending on who’s counting) residing in the United States, this diverse group of people linked by their ethnicity, language, culture, and other factors accounts for a not-so-tiny part of the human race. And while they represent just 1.5% of the U.S. population — and African Americans and Hispanics represent roughly 14% and 19%, respectively — there are several justifications for advocating for their distinct inclusion in clinical trials.

To be clear, Arabs are included in clinical research. However, they are currently categorized as whites. And as such, there’s no real way to tell how many are participating in clinical research. Yes, Arabs are inappropriately lumped with people whose lived experience can be distinctly different from theirs. Aside from the glaring socioeconomic issues with doing so, grouping individuals from diverse genetic backgrounds under a single racial category can be problematic in clinical research. This practice overlooks important genetic differences and limits the applicability of research findings. Genetic differences within and between populations can have implications for disease susceptibility, disease progression, drug metabolism, and treatment response. Failing to account for this diversity can lead to biases in clinical research findings and limit the generalizability of results to specific populations. Read more …