A study assessed the racial and ethnic diversity of US participants in clinical trials for acne, atopic dermatitis (AD), and psoriasis. The analysis appeared in the The Journal of Dermatalogical Treatment.
In this study, researchers reviewed clinical trials for common dermatologic conditions published between January 2014 and July 2019. They compared race/ethnicity reporting among the trials to skin disease, mode of intervention, and trial phase. Overall, they assessed 103 articles from 119 trials.
The study found that White participants represented 77.5% of the U.S. population, a number largely driven by psoriasis trials (72.5%).
The investigators noted that the proportions of non-White and Hispanic individuals in non-topical and Phase III trials were appreciably lower (21.0 and 16.3%, respectively), and (20.5 and 18.7%, respectively).
“Race and ethnicity remain underreported in dermatologic clinical trials, and US trial participant diversity differs by skin disease, intervention type, and trial phase,” the researchers concluded.
