Lack Of Diversity In Clinical Trials Presents Possible Health Consequences

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Despite striking ethnic disparities in the incidence and mortality of diseases like cancer and respiratory disease, minorities are not well represented in clinical trials. A paper out in the journal PLOS Medicine says two main barriers to achieving diverse clinical trials are the expense of recruiting minority subjects, and fears of exploitation in medical research.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

About 40 percent of Americans belong to a racial or ethnic minority. But the people who participate in clinical trials are much more homogeneous. These trials are the studies that test whether drugs work and inform doctors' decisions about how to treat their patients. As NPR's Rae Ellen Bichell reports, that mismatch can have big health consequences.

RAE ELLEN BICHELL, BYLINE: Here's the gist of an article this week in the journal PLOS Medicine - clinical trials in biomedical research are too white.

SAM OH: Yeesh (laughter) it's a little jarring to hear it that way.

BICHELL: But that's the reality. Sam Oh is an epidemiologist at UC San Francisco. He was one of a group of 14 researchers who...