The following is a summary of “REPRESENTATION OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES IN ATRIAL FIBRILLATION CLINICAL TRIALS,” published in the March 2023 issue of Cardiology by Lan, et al.
Enrolling diverse racial and ethnic groups in clinical trials for atrial fibrillation is crucial, yet there was limited information on their participation in these trials.
To investigate the issue, researchers, for a study, conducted a systematic search of all completed atrial fibrillation trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov between conception and September 1, 2022. Using linear regression, they manually extracted race and ethnicity information and analyzed the proportion of trials that reported this information and the proportion of each racial group among trial participants over time.
Out of 253 completed atrial fibrillation trials with 803,625 participants, the median proportion of white participants was 91%. The study found that 40% of clinical trials reported race information, significantly increasing the number of studies reporting race between 2005 and 2020 (29% vs. 67%; P < 0.001; R2 = 87%). However, there was no significant change in the proportion of White (P = 0.70), Asian (P = 0.67), or Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (P = 0.99) participants over time. The proportion of Black participants increased modestly (P = 0.04), but there was no significant change in the proportion of Hispanic participants over time (P = 0.49).
The study concluded that although there had been some improvement in reporting race and ethnicity information in atrial fibrillation trials over time, most ethnic and racial minority groups remained underrepresented.