Racial and ethnic diversity of US participants in clinical trials for acne, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis: a comprehensive review.

Abstract

An increasing body of literature describes underreporting of race and ethnicity, and overrepresentation of White individuals in clinical trials. We aimed to evaluate the racial and ethnic diversity of US participants in clinical trials for acne, atopic dermatitis (AD), and psoriasis. We performed a comprehensive review of clinical trials for these common dermatologic diseases that were published between January 2014 and July 2019. Race and ethnicity reporting among all trials, and the racial and ethnic distribution of US participants were compared by skin disease, intervention type, and trial phase. In total, 103 articles representing 119 unique trials were evaluated. Race and ethnicity were reported in only 22.7% of trials. The proportion of White participants (77.5%) was higher than that of the US population (72.5%, p < .01); a finding largely driven by psoriasis trials (84.7% White). The proportions of non-White and Hispanic individuals in non-topical (21.0 and 16.3%, respectively) and Phase III (20.5 and 18.7%, respectively) trials were lower than those in topical (23.5 and 23.3%, respectively; p < .01) and Phase I/II trials (25.6 and 22.3%, respectively; p < .01). Race and ethnicity remain underreported in dermatologic clinical trials, and US trial participant diversity differs by skin disease, intervention type, and trial phase.