A greater percentage of counties with the highest cancer mortalities had no trials vs counties with the lowest cancer mortalities. No trials occurred in 85% of high-mortality counties and 82% of counties with more than one measure of social vulnerability, specifically.
"[C]ounties with care sites that currently have limited or no research infrastructure represent places with the potential to expand research because of the presence of oncologists. Strategies to reduce existing barriers to running trials will be needed to engage these clinicians in research, however, such as addressing complex trial designs, regulatory burdens, resource needs, and training and support of providers," the authors of the study wrote.
This study was led by M. Kelsey Kirkwood, MPH, of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Alexandria, Virginia, and colleagues. It was published online in JCO Oncology Practice.
The study's limitations included the lack of control groups and potential biases in data collection and interpretation. The geographic focus on US counties may limit the generalizability of the findings to other regions. Additionally, the reliance on ClinicalTrials.gov data may have resulted in underreporting of trial sites, potentially biasing the results.
David M. Waterhouse, MD, MPH, disclosed receiving consulting fees from multiple pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol Myers Squibb, AbbVie, and Merck. Jeffrey M. Peppercorn, MD, MPH, is the editor in chief of JCO Oncology Practice and was recused from the peer review of this manuscript. Ishwaria M. Subbiah, MD, MS, reported receiving research funding from Bayer, Novartis, Pfizer, and other companies. Additional disclosures are noted in the original article.