Diversity in U.S. Clinical Trials for Head and Neck Cancer: Are We Improving?

Abstract

This study assesses whether national initiatives undertaken to improve diversity in clinical trial enrollment have been successful within head and neck cancer (HNC) trials. A retrospective analysis was conducted of HNC trials published on clinicaltrials.gov with start dates between 2000 and 2023. Demographic data for 8998 HNC trial enrollees was abstracted and analyzed to investigate potential demographic shifts. In the past 20 years, the percentage of White patients increased 6.1%, Asian patient population decreased 3.1%, and Black patient population increased 0.8%. Compared with previously published SEER data, HNC trials have significantly more White patients, fewer Black patients, and fewer Asian/Native-Hawaiian patients than HNC patients at large. Despite efforts to increase diversity in HNC clinical trials in the United States, diversity has significantly decreased in the past 10 years. As current approaches are failing to show improvement, novel approaches to improving representation in clinical trials are necessitated.