Latino cancer patients who drop out of clinical trials for depression treatment did so due to family issues, lack of transportation, financial costs, and other practical barriers, according to a study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
[Photo: Dr. Anjanette A. Wells]
Researchers looked at medical charts from 15 dropouts who consented to provide medical release forms for the study. Most were Latino women, and the barriers researchers found were consistent with barriers found for Latinos who dropped out of other clinical trials.
Although the small number of participants limited the depth and range of explanations for dropouts, the study “was able to highlight barriers such as ‘psychological coping’ that might not have been so apparent in other types of survey designs,” said Dr. Anjanette A. Wells, assistant professor at the Brown School and the study’s lead author.
“This knowledge will help in the development of better clinical trial recruitment and retention strategies geared toward helping hard-to-reach populations remain in treatment.”
The study was published May 25 in the Journal of Clinical Trials.