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. 2014 Jan-Feb;15(1):14-26.
doi: 10.1310/hct1501-14.

Minorities remain underrepresented in HIV/AIDS research despite access to clinical trials

Jose R Castillo-Mancilla  1 , Susan E Cohn  2 , Supriya Krishnan  3 , Michelle Cespedes  4 , Michelle Floris-Moore  5 , Gail Schulte  6 , Gregory Pavlov  7 , Donna Mildvan  8 , Kimberly Y Smith  9 ; the ACTG Underrepresented Populations Survey Group
Affiliations

Minorities remain underrepresented in HIV/AIDS research despite access to clinical trials

Jose R Castillo-Mancilla et al. HIV Clin Trials. 2014 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Background and objective: The reasons for minority underrepresentation in HIV/AIDS clinical trials remain unclear. We aimed to evaluate the knowledge, experience, and factors that influence minority participation in HIV/AIDS studies in the United States.

Methods: An anonymous, bilingual, self-administered survey on study participation was given to HIV-infected adults attending AIDS Clinical Trials Group-affiliated clinics in the United States and Puerto Rico. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate differences by race, first language, and level of education. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for factors associated with being talked to about participation in a study.

Results: We analyzed 2,175 complete surveys (221 in Spanish). Among respondents, 31% were White, 40% were Black/African American (AA), and 21% were Hispanic. The overall rate of previous participation in any HIV/AIDS study was 48%. Hispanics were less likely to know about studies compared to Whites and AAs (67% vs 74% and 76%, respectively; P < .001). Compared to Whites, AAs and Hispanics were less likely to have been talked to about participating in a study (76% vs 67% and 67%, respectively; P < .001). The OR for being talked to about participating in a study was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.52-0.81) for AAs and 0.65 (95% CI, 0.49-0.85) for Hispanics, compared to Whites. AAs and Hispanics were more likely to state that studies were not friendly to their race (17% and 10% vs 4%; P < .001).

Conclusions: Minorities continue to face barriers for HIV/AIDS trial participation, even when clinical research is available. Enrollment strategies should better target minorities to improve recruitment in HIV/AIDS research.

Keywords: AIDS; HIV; clinical trials; minority; research participation; underrepresented.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest:

JCM has received honoraria from Gilead. MC has received honoraria from Gilead and funding for investigator initiated research from GlaxoSmithKline. For the remaining authors no conflicts of interest were declared.

References

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