Features associated with successful recruitment of diverse patients onto cancer clinical trials: report from the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group.

Background: The clinical trials mechanism of standardized treatment and follow-up for cancer patients with similar stages and patterns of disease is the most powerful approach available for evaluating the efficacy of novel therapies, and clinical trial participation should protect against delivery of care variations associated with racial/ethnic identity and/or socioeconomic status. Unfortunately, disparities in clinical trial accrual persist, with African Americans (AA) and Hispanic/Latino Americans (HA) underrepresented in most studies.

Study Design: We evaluated the accrual patterns for 10 clinical trials conducted by the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) 1999-2009, and analyzed results by race/ethnicity as well as by study design.

Golden opportunity or sudden death threats.

King/Drew Medical Center is the only minority academic medical center west of the Mississippi River. As a result of the McCone Commission investigation into the Watts Riots of 1965, it was initially established as the Martin Luther King Hospital. Upon the establishment of Drew University in the mid-70s, the name change was made to recognize the existence of the College of Medicine at Drew University and its affiliated hospital.

Use of the National Cancer Data Base to develop clinical trials accrual targets that are appropriate for minority ethnicity patients: a report from the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Special Population Committee.

Background: Disparities in cancer outcome among different subsets of the American population related to ethnic background have been well documented. Clinical trials represent the most powerful strategy for improving cancer treatments, but racial and ethnic minority patients are frequently underrepresented among patients accrued to these protocols. Proof of comparable efficacy for a promising cancer therapy in different groups of patients requires diversity in the clinical trial populations so that study results will be generalizable.

Pitfalls in health communication: healthcare policy, institution, structure, and process.

The state of health communication for a given population is a function of several tiers of structure and process: government policy, healthcare directives, healthcare structure and process, and the ethnosocial realities of a multicultural society. Common yet specific to these tiers of health communication is the interpersonal and intergroup use of language in all its forms. Language is the most common behavior exhibited by humankind.