(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Women continue to be woefully underrepresented in
cancer clinical trials despite long-standing government recommendations that
urge scientists to do a better job of adequately representing women, new
research finds.
Researchers at the University of Michigan reviewed 661 prospective clinical
studies involving more than a million participants that have appeared in eight
highly regarded journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the
Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association.
When they assessed seven non-sex-specific cancer types, the researchers found
that the majority of studies enrolled a lower proportion of women than the
proportion of women with that type of cancer in the general population. On
average, women made up 38.8 percent of patients enrolled in a study.
The study also examined the differences between government-funded studies and
drug company-funded studies. In government studies, female patients constituted
41.3 percent of participants compared to 36.9 percent in privately funded
studies. The researchers said this finding suggests that government policies may
encourage more balance when enrolling patients in clinical studies.
The study's authors said researchers need to make greater efforts to ensure that
oncologists know the true effects of treatments and medical procedures in female
patients. They also suggested future studies to examine why such a disparity
exists. They theorized that factors such as lack of information, fear and
perceived interference with personal responsibilities, such as childcare, may be
responsible. Some researchers may also worry about protecting women of
childbearing age from unnecessary exposures to medical interventions, the
study's authors said.
SOURCE: CANCER, July 15, 2009
