Broadening recruitment for minorities, the elderly.

“If a new cancer therapy is tested only on young white men, can we generalize that an elderly Hispanic woman will have the same response to the treatment?” So asks Gwendolyn P. Quinn, PhD, associate professor of oncologic sciences at the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine. With colleagues at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Quinn has developed a Spanish-language DVD and booklet based on feedback from a focus group of Hispanic cancer patients and caregivers. More than a third of the U.S. population belongs to a minority group, yet minorities make up less than 1% of adult cancer patients enrolled in clinical trials. The results of a recent analysis of nearly a quarter-million patients from the California Cancer Registry reaffirmed this long-recognized disparity. Blacks were less likely than whites to enroll in cancer clinical trials, at rates of 0.48% versus 0.67%, respectively (Ann Surg 2011;254:438–443). And while nearly half of all patients in the study cohort were 65 or older, this population represented just over a quarter of those participating in cancer trials. These ethnic and age disparities have far-reaching implications. Minorities and elderly people face higher cancer rates than the population as a whole—and they comprise a growing proportion of America’s populace. In addition to the genetic differences between racial groups, populations that are underrepresented in clinical trials may have different cultural and lifestyle factors (such as diet and environmental exposures) that affect their response to cancer therapies.