By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    physical health
    5 Ways Playing Games Can Improve Neural and Physical Health
    September 9, 2022
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    February 16, 2022
    healthcare organization
    5 Actionable Strategies For Healthcare Organizations
    August 15, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    4 Reasons Chris Cornell’s Death Raises Medical Ethics Questions
    December 19, 2018
    What If You Could Sell Your Vote?
    August 24, 2017
    The Sleepy American
    September 12, 2017
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Bolstering Diversity in Clinical Trials
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Bolstering Diversity in Clinical Trials
Policy & Law

Bolstering Diversity in Clinical Trials

Jonathan Catley
Jonathan Catley
Share
7 Min Read
iStock_87827713_MEDIUM.jpg
SHARE

Clinical trials have a diversity problem, and it could be having a negative impact on their ability to secure FDA approval. Here’s what you need to know. In the scientific community, no one needs to be reminded of the importance of a representative sample — or at least, that’s what you’d assume. Yet the FDA has found itself having to crack down on clinical trials that fail to represent the ethnic composition of respective patient populations. The ability of a trial to secure FDA approval for a given treatment or medication will increasingly depend on how representative its sample is. Diversity is being emphasized across industries, but it’s especially important in the world of clinical trials. Studies repeatedly confirm that both the incidence of certain disorders and reaction to treatments varies widely based on race, ethnicity, and gender. Samples for these trials should, therefore, reflect not the diversity of the general population, but that of the patient population: the group of people most likely to experience the disorder being treated.

Contents
  • Diverse Trials Are Key to Effective Treatment
  • How Trial Sponsors Can Improve Minority Outreach
  • How Digital Marketing Can Help

Diverse Trials Are Key to Effective Treatment

Far from being encouraged for its own sake, diversity in clinical trials ensures more effective procedures and medications. Consider the fact that African-Americans, along with Asian- and Mexican-Americans, are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes. But despite making up 12% of the population, black Americans account for only 5% of clinical trial participants. Black men also comprise only 3% of clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer, despite being twice as likely to die from the disease. When the approval of a treatment is based on evidence that doesn’t adequately consider at-risk populations, it increases the chances of unexpected adverse events (AEs). One BMJ study found that 16% of hospital visits resulted from AEs, making it a significant health risk to which unrepresentative clinical trials contribute directly. But this problem is not simply the result of lack of awareness of the facts at hand. Medical marketers seeking to recruit diverse trial participants to face many obstacles to their outreach efforts: statistically speaking, many racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to have access to comprehensive insurance policies, and are therefore less likely to interact with medical professionals who might inform them of clinical trials and their potential benefits. Similarly, many of these groups are more likely to work hourly jobs and have a much harder time fitting trial participation into their schedules.

How Trial Sponsors Can Improve Minority Outreach

One of the first steps towards encouraging more minority participation in your trials is identifying staff members at investigator sites who belong to that minority group, especially those who are multilingual. Establishing a welcoming environment is key to winning the trust of populations that tend to have less experience with (and therefore, more skepticism of) clinical trials. However, as Bernadette Tosti writes in Applied Clinical Trials, “To connect with patients in minority communities and win their trust, communicating through physicians and clinics is only a first step.” Sponsors must make a concentrated effort to reach out to the communities they hope to reach, establishing a presence in known community centers through both paper flyers and with in-person representatives. Medicine is a very personal and intimate aspect of people’s lives, and bad habits aren’t likely to change without personal and intimate outreach.

How Digital Marketing Can Help

According to Pew Research, black and Hispanic Americans are far more likely to rely on their smartphones than Caucasians when conducting health-related research. As such, clinical trial recruiters must ensure an optimized mobile experience, with both an intuitive interface and highly searchable healthcare information that’s easy to find. This increases the likelihood that many targeted racial or ethnic groups will come across your digital marketing efforts and ultimately sign up for your trial. Thanks to its huge user base and comprehensive targeting capabilities, Facebook can also be a beneficial asset when it comes to recruiting minority patients. In fact, back in 2014 Facebook unveiled its “ethnic affinity” targeting service, enabling marketers to leverage advanced algorithms that effectively guess a given users’ racial background. Tools such as these could do much to improve minority recruitment when implemented in tandem with a multilingual staff at your call centers and investigator sites. Of course, search remains the largest “database” of prospective trial participants — considering that about one in 20 of Google’s two trillion annual searches are health-related, if you don’t already have a comprehensive search engine marketing campaign in place, you’re missing out on the biggest clinical trial recruitment resource there is. However, Google AdWords doesn’t have the same targeting capability that Facebook does, so effectively reaching minority patient populations will require more ingenuity. For example, if you’re trying to reach an ESL audience, make sure you’re pushing out ads in the primary language of those patients. You can even use geo filters to target specific neighborhoods where they may be higher concentrations of the specific patient population you’re looking to recruit. While recalibrating your clinical trial recruitment strategy will require some effort and investment, the benefits go beyond merely securing FDA approval. These efforts are likely to improve health outcomes generally, especially for patient populations that are particularly vulnerable to specific medical disorders, but also may currently lack effective treatment options.

More Read

Image
#Doctors20 & You Conference: #mHealth, #ePatients, #Collaboration
Medicare? I’m Sorry, the Doctor Won’t See You Now
AMCs: The Journey from Idea to Action
Health Provisions in Obama’s Deficit Plan Good for Campaigning
Social Security Expands Online Services
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

travel nurse in north carolina
Balancing Speed and Scope: Choosing the Nursing Degree That Fits Your Goals
Nursing
September 1, 2025
intimacy
How to Keep Intimacy Comfortable as You Age
Relationship and Lifestyle Senior Care
September 1, 2025
engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Comic Book Explains, Advocates Health Care Reform

March 1, 2012
Psychiatrists are now working online
Global HealthcareHealth ReformMental HealthPolicy & LawPublic Health

Psychiatrists Now Working Online: How the Mental Healthcare Industry Is Evolving

December 12, 2021
apple.jpg
Medical EducationWellness

Why Medical Marketers Should Use Patient Education as a Strategic Advantage

July 5, 2016
American Healthcare System
Health carePolicy & Law

3 Surprising Facts About the American Healthcare System

May 24, 2017
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?