Factors that influence cancer clinical trial participation in a minority safety net hospital

Background: Clinical cancer trial has been identified by several studies as one of the most reliable approaches to verifying efficacy of multiple cancer drugs. For clinical trials to be effective and generalizable, participation of all segments of a population is necessary. Low rate of participation by the underserved population impedes the success and progress of clinical cancer research. Thus, identifying factors that influence enrollment of the underserved population in clinical cancer trials is very critical. Objective: Study seeks to determine factors influencing minority participation in cancer clinical trials in a safety net hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Methods: Electronic health record-based secondary data extended by the addition of Tennessee census data will be analyzed. Dataset contains data for 1600 patients who were diagnosed for cancer at the Nashville General Hospital. A retrospective study design is adopted. The secondary dataset contains variables such as race, age, stage of cancer, type of cancer, co-morbidity, primary care physician, initial three digits of patients' zip codes, date diagnosed, and date enrolled in the clinical trial. The independent variables include living arrangements and selected socioeconomic variables, while clinical trial enrollment is the dependent variable. Data are analyzed using the STATA software package. Multiple Logistic regression analysis will be used to examine the association between each variable and clinical trial enrollment while controlling for the effect of other variables. Characteristics of clinical trial participants and non-clinical trial participants will be compared to identify trends between the two groups.