Conducting Precision Medicine Research with African Americans

Precision medicine is an approach to detecting, treating, and managing disease that is based on individual variation in genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Precision medicine is expected to reduce health disparities, but this will be possible only if studies have adequate representation of racial minorities.

It is critical to anticipate the rates at which individuals from diverse populations are likely to participate in precision medicine studies as research initiatives are being developed. We evaluated the likelihood of participating in a clinical study for precision medicine.

Observational study conducted between October 2010 and February 2011 in a national sample of African Americans.

Intentions to participate in a government sponsored study that involves providing a biospecimen and generates data that could be shared with other researchers to conduct future studies.

One third of respondents would participate in a clinical study for precision medicine. Only gender had a significant independent association with participation intentions. Men had a 1.86 (95% CI = 1.11, 3.12, p = 0.02) increased likelihood of participating in a precision medicine study compared to women in the model that included overall barriers and facilitators. In the model with specific participation barriers, distrust was associated with a reduced likelihood of participating in the research described in the vignette (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.34, 0.96, p = 0.04).

African Americans may have low enrollment in PMI research. As PMI research is implemented, extensive efforts will be needed to ensure adequate representation. Additional research is needed to identify optimal ways of ethically describing precision medicine studies to ensure sufficient recruitment of racial minorities.