Eminent medic highlights need for African-American clinical data

Former US surgeon-general David Satcher is urging increased enrollment of African Americans in clinical trials, noting for example that they are two to three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than non-Hispanic whites.

“Without higher levels of participation among African Americans, we will never unlock the root causes of the disparate impact of a disease such as Alzheimer’s,” wrote Satcher, the honorary chairman of the African American Network Against Alzheimer’s, in an opinion piece in The Washington Post on 21 February.

“This disparity is rooted as much in our cultural heritage as in our genes,” Satcher wrote. “Every day that African Americans continue to live in fear of such trials is another day that we fall further behind in the fight against Alzheimer’s and other diseases.”