Clinical trial participation for vulnerable cancer patients in Denmark and England

IF 2.4 3区医学 Q3 ONCOLOGY

Cancer Epidemiology Pub Date : 2025-03-18 DOI:10.1016/j.canep.2025.102793

Lars Hernández Nielsen , Jakob Bruhn Krøjgaard Skelmose , Laurids Østergaard Poulsen , Marianne Tang Severinsen , Martin Bøgsted , Rasmus Froberg Brøndum

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

New cancer therapies are introduced through clinical trials. However, eligibility criteria can pose a barrier to vulnerable patients, limiting access to potentially improved treatments and reducing generalizability of the results. The aim of this study was to investigate participation in clinical trials for vulnerable cancer patients in Denmark and compare results to England.

Patients and methods

We utilized population-based registries of systemic anti-cancer therapy from the North Denmark Region and England covering, respectively, 2008–2021 and 2016–2019. We included adult patients (≥18 years) who received SACT in relation to a solid cancer. Vulnerability was defined as the lowest quintile in relation to socioeconomic position. We estimated odds ratios (OR) for participation in a clinical trial.

Results

We included 15,173 patients in the Danish cohort and 336,218 in the English. From these 1107 (7.3 %) and 12,502 (3.7 %) participated in a clinical trial, respectively. The adjusted OR for participating in a trial for vulnerable patients was 0.81 (95 % CI 0.68–0.96) in Denmark and 0.80 (95 % CI 0.76–0.84) in England. The strongest associations were found within gynaecological cancers.

Conclusion

We found associations of reduced trial participation for vulnerable individuals in both countries and consistent associations within gynaecological cancers.

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来源期刊

Cancer Epidemiology 医学-肿瘤学

CiteScore

4.50

自引率

3.80%

发文量

200

审稿时长

39 days

期刊介绍： Cancer Epidemiology is dedicated to increasing understanding about cancer causes, prevention and control. The scope of the journal embraces all aspects of cancer epidemiology including: • Descriptive epidemiology • Studies of risk factors for disease initiation, development and prognosis • Screening and early detection • Prevention and control • Methodological issues The journal publishes original research articles (full length and short reports), systematic reviews and meta-analyses, editorials, commentaries and letters to the editor commenting on previously published research.