Clinical trials boosted by rising public trust

The proportion of people citing a “lack of trust” as a reason for not participating in clinical trials is falling, a survey has found.

Half of African-Americans polled by the not-for-profit group Research! America said they hadn’t taken part in clinical trials because of a “lack of trust”. However, this was an 11 percent fall from 2013, according to the survey published on 19 September.

Similarly, although 45 percent of Asians-Americans cited lack of trust as a reason not to take part in trials, this, too was a 6 percent decrease since 2013. The proportion of Hispanic-Americans citing lack of trust (43 per cent) was a 9 per cent decrease over the same period. Among whites, the proportion fell by 15 points to 39 per cent.