Study: Costs deters cancer patients with low incomes from clinical trials

Cancer patients with lower incomes are a third less likely to be part of clinical trials that could help treat their disease than those whose annual income is at least $50,000, according to a new study (Source: “Costs May Keep Low-Income Patients From Clinical Trials, Study Finds,” Kaiser Health News, Oct. 30, 2015).  

The authors of the study, which was published in the journal JAMA Oncology, suggest that covering some of the costs of participating in a research study might enhance enrollment.

Clinical trials, which test new treatments or prevention methods to determine whether they are safe and effective, are an essential component of medical research. Yet only a small percentage of eligible patients participate in them.

One of the main reasons clinical trials fail is because they don’t get enough people to enroll. If the number of patients who participate could be doubled or quadrupled, many more trials could be completed, says Joseph Unger, biostatistician and health services researcher in cancer clinical trials at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.