County poverty rate linked to multiple myeloma clinical trial availability
A county’s poverty rate appeared significantly associated with the likelihood it would be home to at least one registered multiple myeloma clinical trial site, according to study results.
Researchers used ClinicalTrials.gov to assess the availability of multiple myeloma trials across North Carolina counties between 2002 and 2021. They used the CDC Social Vulnerability Index — which ranks each census tract on 16 social factors — to assess county poverty levels.
Counties with low poverty rates were nearly six times more likely than counties with high poverty rates to have at least one registered trial site (OR = 5.6; 95% CI, 1.85-19.64), findings published in JCO Oncology Practice showed.
In addition, counties with the lowest percentage of Black indigenous people of color and non-native English speakers appeared 77% less likely to have at least one registered trial site (OR = 0.23; 95% CI, 0.07-0.69).
Healio spoke with Shakira J. Grant, MBBS, assistant professor of medicine in the divisions of hematology and geriatric medicine at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about the study results and the need to expand trial access for socially vulnerable populations.
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