Disparities in Lung Cancer Clinical Trial Discussion and Enrollment at a Safety Net Hospital

In the United States, less than 5% of all adult cancer patients enroll in clinical trials. Few studies explore participation in cancer clinical trials at safety net hospitals, which disproportionately care for minoritized, low-income, uninsured, and underinsured populations. Our study aims to investigate disparities in clinical trial discussions and enrollment among lung cancer patients at Boston Medical Center, the largest safety net hospital in New England.

We included 1121 patients diagnosed with lung cancer between January 2015 and December 2020. Electronic Medical Records (EMR) were queried, and patients were categorized into three groups: (1) clinical trial discussed and the patient enrolled, (2) clinical trial discussed but the patient not enrolled, and (3) clinical trial not discussed. Sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, city, primary language, median household income, medical insurance type, and education level were also collected. Chi-squared,t test, and multivariate regression analysis was done using SPSS version 26.0.

Of the 1121 patients, clinical trials were discussed in 141 patients (12.6%), of which 22 (15.6%) were enrolled. Clinical trial discussions were conducted more with younger patients (68.19 vs 71.37, p = .001), but on multivariate analysis there was no significant difference (OR = 1.023; 95% CI 0.998-1.048; p = .068). There was no significant difference in clinical trial discussion or enrollment between the other sociodemographic factors.

Additional study of barriers to cancer clinical trial discussion and enrollment at safety net institutions can serve as a prerequisite to ameliorating racial disparities observed on a national scale.